Shahid Afridi: “Was his fitness up to the mark?”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Shahid Afridi, the former Pakistan captain, has cast doubt over whether Umar Akmal’s fitness was up to standard during the 2023 Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Akmal was selected to play for the Quetta Gladiators, who failed to make the playoffs.
The 33-year-old wasn’t in great form throughout PSL 8 as he was limited to 95 runs in six matches at an average of 23.75 and a strike-rate of 186.27.
Despite scoring his runs quickly, Afridi reiterated that he still doesn’t know if Akmal’s fitness was where it needed to be.
“Was his fitness up to the mark?” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a two-Test series against Sri Lanka, which will be played in Galle and Colombo from July 16 to 28.
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