Mohammad Kaif: “Somehow feel this Pakistan team was too soft, their pacers too nice. Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib were intimidating. They would stare at you, even sledge. Babar, Shaheen, Rauf – they lacked that aura, they looked too friendly”

Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani

Former India batsman Mohammad Kaif believes Pakistan batsman Babar Azam and the pace duo of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf were nowhere near as intimidating as the legendary fast bowling trio of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar.

Kaif recalled how Wasim, Waqar and Akhtar “would stare at you” and “even sledge” batsmen to try and unnerve them.

In comparison, he pointed out that Azam, Afridi and Rauf don’t have the same “aura” as they seem to be “too friendly.”

“Somehow feel this Pakistan team was too soft, their pacers too nice. Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib were intimidating. They would stare at you, even sledge. Babar, Shaheen, Rauf – they lacked that aura, they looked too friendly,” Kaif said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Pakistan recently featured in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup and won their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before falling to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.

Even though they fought back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to make it to the semi-finals.

The men in green concluded their campaign on a sour note as England thumped them by 93 runs.

Azam, who stepped down as captain after the World Cup, and Afridi will now represent Pakistan in their three-match Test series against Australia.

As for Rauf, he was supposed to be in the squad, but pulled out due to workload concerns.

The first Test between Pakistan and Australia will get underway 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

MORE PAKISTAN CRICKET NEWS: There was never a sword hanging over him, Shahid Afridi points out Pakistan player had 3-4 years to prove himself

[TS_Poll id=”100″]