Shoaib Akhtar: “The batsmen were all over the place with the way they played their shots. It was brainless batting with complete disregard for how the pitch was behaving and what the bowlers were trying to do”
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Legendary Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar slammed the national team’s batsmen, asking whether they are brainless.
Akhtar’s scathing criticism comes after Pakistan lost the second T20 International against New Zealand by nine wickets on Sunday.
The Rawalpindi Express said the “batsmen were all over the place with the way they played their shots” and added that they would have been rewarded with boundaries had they timed and placed their shots better.
“The batsmen were all over the place with the way they played their shots. It was brainless batting with complete disregard for how the pitch was behaving and what the bowlers were trying to do,” he told PTV Sports as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
“You just needed to place the ball on that small ground and it would easily have been a four.”
While virtually all the Pakistan batsmen struggled in the match, veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez was the one player that stole the spotlight as he hammered a career-best 99 not out, which came off 57 balls and included 10 boundaries and five sixes.
The third T20 International will be held in Napier on Tuesday.