Kamran Akmal: “When you play to keep protecting yourself, whether it’s Babar or anyone else, I don’t think it will help. You won’t be among the greats, and your cricket won’t go up”
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Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal said national team players, whether it be captain Babar Azam or anyone else, shouldn’t be playing to protect themselves.
He noted that employing this tactic won’t help and will not result in the current crop of players becoming greats of the game.
Azam has been in tremendous form lately as he scored 390 runs in the three-Test series against Australia, which included a career-best knock of 196, at an average of 78.
In the three ODIs that followed, he amassed 276 runs, which included two centuries and a fifty, at an average of 138.
As for the one-off T20 International, he cracked 66 runs off 46 balls, which included six boundaries and two sixes.
“When you play to keep protecting yourself, whether it’s Babar or anyone else, I don’t think it will help. You won’t be among the greats, and your cricket won’t go up,” Akmal told Paktv.tv as quoted by Cricwick.Â
Azam is now captaining Pakistan in the two-Test series against Sri Lanka, which started on July 16 in Galle.
Pakistan squad for Sri Lanka Tests:Â Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain, wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood and Yasir Shah