Kamran Akmal: “You have rested your five main players, so why are you also dropping Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Kamran Akmal, the wicketkeeper-batsman, admitted he was shocked that Pakistan dropped top order batsman Shan Masood and big-hitter Iftikhar Ahmed for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in March.
Iftikhar only played one match in the series and was left out of the playing XI for the other two games.
Masood, meanwhile, was named in the squad but didn’t feature in a single match.
Given that many of Pakistan’s main players, including captain Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi, were rested for the series, Akmal found it hard to believe that senior cricketers like Masood and Iftikhar were not utilised properly.
“You have rested your five main players, so why are you also dropping Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed,” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Masood has been picked in Pakistan’s team for the upcoming two-Test series against Sri Lanka, which will be held in Galle and Colombo from July 16 t0 28. Iftikhar, however, did not make the cut.
Pakistan Squad for Sri Lanka Test Series:Â Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc & wk), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Muhammad Huraira, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood