Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Shoaib Akhtar admitted he was gutted that Pakistan captain Babar Azam fell agonisingly short of scoring a maiden Test double century in the Test series against Australia.
Azam made 196 in the second Test before being dismissed by Australia spinner Nathan Lyon.
Overall, the 27-year-old finished with 390 runs in the three Tests at an average of 78.
He followed it up with 276 runs in the three ODIs, which included two hundreds and a half-century, at an average of 138.
As for the one-off T20 International, he made 66 off 46 deliveries, which included six boundaries and two sixes.
With Azam having scored consistently in the series against Australia, Akhtar feels that many children in Pakistan will be inspired by his effort and will grow up wanting to be just like him.
“Very sad he couldn’t score 200 but it doesn’t matter. Cricketers will emerge due to Babar’s effort; youngsters will look to become Babar Azam,” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
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