Wasim Akram: “I go for Javed Miandad because [of] the way he bats and assesses the situation and he was a gun fielder in his heydays”
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Iconic left-arm pace bowler Wasim Akram said he would pick Javed Miandad over former Pakistan captain Babar Azam and India skipper Rohit Sharma at the number four spot in his all-time India-Pakistan ODI XI.
Azam is arguably the best batsman Pakistan has produced, while Rohit has also accomplished a plethora of incredible feats in his illustrious career.
Wasim noted that in addition to Miandad’s batting, the 66-year-old from Karachi was also a “gun fielder.”
“Number four is very difficult to pick. I have Mohammad Yousuf, Babar Azam, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Misbah-ul-Haq, Inzamam-ul-Haq and from India Rohit Sharma. It’s difficult not to pick Rohit Sharma. But four, I go for Javed Miandad because [of] the way he bats and assesses the situation and he was a gun fielder in his heydays,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently led Pakistan in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup and scored 320 runs in nine matches, which included four half-centuries, at an average of 40.
The men in green started off with wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before suffering four straight losses at the hands of India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Facing the threat of elimination, they fought back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, which kept their hopes of reaching the World Cup semi-finals alive.
However, they were unable to book their spot in the final four and also lost their last group stage match against England by 93 runs.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali