Wasim Akram: “It must have been a difficult decision to drop a player like Shoaib Malik from the side”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Legendary Pakistan left-arm seamer Wasim Akram has admitted it must have been hard for the national team to drop veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik for their World Cup clash against South Africa on Sunday.

Malik has endured a disastrous World Cup as he has scored eight runs in three games at an average of 2.66.

He made all eight of his runs against England and was subsequently dismissed for a second-ball duck against Australia and a golden duck against India.

He has also taken one wicket at an average of 47.

“I met the team during the warm-ups before the match and they looked relaxed and up for the task,” Akram was quoted as saying by cricketpakistan.com.pk. “It must have been a difficult decision to drop a player like Shoaib Malik from the side for Sarfraz (Ahmed) and Mickey (Arthur) but they did it because [the] team comes first and individuals later.”

Pakistan beat South Africa by 49 runs to keep their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals alive, but Akram urged the team to focus on winning their last three group stage games instead of solely thinking about reaching the last four.

“I think Pakistan just need to focus on their remaining matches rather than focusing on the ifs and buts that surround their passage to the semi-finals of the World Cup,” Akram said.

Pakistan’s next World Cup match will be against New Zealand at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

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