Jalaluddin: “Pakistan’s main batters including Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan or Saud Shakeel haven’t been aggressive”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan fast bowler Jalaluddin has called out Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel for their lack of aggression when batting.
He noted that the four of them are Pakistan’s “main batters” and need to score quick runs in accordance with the way ODI cricket is played today.
Azam, in particular, has been criticised for his slow batting on numerous occasions, but Jalaluddin wants to see the quartet raise their strike-rate as it could help the team win more matches going forward.
“Pakistan’s main batters including Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan or Saud Shakeel haven’t been aggressive,” he told The News as quoted by Geo Super.
In the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, Pakistan began by beating the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before faltering against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they bounced back to take down Bangladesh and New Zealand, it wasn’t enough to earn them a spot in the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign in dismal fashion as England crushed them by 93 runs.
Azam, Imam, Rizwan and Shakeel have all been selected for Pakistan’s upcoming three-match Test series against Australia, which starts on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi