Rashid Latif: “After the retirements of Misbah and Younis, there was a big gap in that dugout. Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq did their best to fill that”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Rashid Latif said senior batsmen Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq did their best to replace Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan when they retired.
Azhar is still part of the Test side, but his form has not been consistent.
As for Shafiq, he was a key member of the middle order before a string of poor performances resulted in him being dropped from the team.
He has not returned to the international level since August 2020 as Pakistan have opted to try out a number of other players.
Given the tough job asked of them, Latif feels that Azhar and Shafiq gave it their all.
“After the retirements of Misbah and Younis, there was a big gap in that dugout. Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq did their best to fill that,” Latif said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan are now taking on New Zealand and Bangladesh in a T20 tri-series.
Afterwards, they will head to Australia for the 2022 T20 World Cup, which begins on October 16.
Pakistan’s Squad for T20 Tri-Series against New Zealand and Bangladesh: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Shan Masood, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Qadir, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Khushdil Shah, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Wasim Jr
Pakistan’s 2022 T20 World Cup squad: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Usman Qadir
Reserves:Â Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Haris, Shahnawaz Dahani