Shoaib Akhtar: “He is striving to improve in T20s. People criticise him without valid reasons”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Shoaib Akhtar, the legendary pace bowler, has come to the defence of Pakistan captain Babar Azam as he feels people are criticising his batting in T20Is for no reason.
Azam has been lambasted for his low strike-rate and using too many deliveries to score his runs as it puts pressure on the rest of the batting line-up to pick up the pace.
However, the 28-year-old has led the men in green to victory on numerous occasions in the shortest format and has been one of the team’s most consistent run-scorers as well.
Azam has featured in 104 T20Is to date and scored 3,485 runs, which includes three centuries and 30 fifties, at an average of 41.48 and a strike-rate of 128.40.
Akhtar admitted that while Azam is not perfect when it comes to T20Is, he appreciates the fact that the Lahore-born batsman is taking the steps needed to improve his game.
“He is striving to improve in T20s. People criticise him without valid reasons,” he said on former India spinner Harbhajan Singh’s YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently scored 76 runs in two Tests against Sri Lanka at an average of 25.33.
He subsequently went on to make 113 runs in three ODIs against Afghanistan, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 37.66.
Recently, he was involved in the Asia Cup, where he accumulated 207 runs in five matches, which included a top score of 151, at an average of 51.75.
Pakistan started their campaign with a 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India after their match was washed out.
Despite this, they advanced to the Super Four stage and crushed Bangladesh by seven wickets.
Their unbeaten streak was subsequently ended when they lost to India by 228 runs.
Pakistan still had a chance to make it to the Asia Cup final, but failed to get the job done as Sri Lanka beat them by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan.
Travelling reserve: Tayyab Tahir