Shoaib Malik: “[The] captain needs to utilise the options on [the] bench wisely. Moving forward, the captain should give time and enough overs to Azam and Iftikhar to settle first, expecting them to score 12-14 right away is unfair”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik believes Pakistan captain Babar Azam has excessively high expectations of big-hitters Azam Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed, saying requiring them to score 12 to 14 runs per over “right away is unfair”.
Azam has fallen well short of the mark in the 13 T20Is he has played to date, while Iftikhar has been rock solid in the middle order and played a number of helpful knocks.
In order to get the best out of both of them, Malik wants Babar to give Azam and Iftikhar enough time to get settled before they start hitting big.
“[The] captain needs to utilise the options on [the] bench wisely. Moving forward, the captain should give time and enough overs to Azam and Iftikhar to settle first, expecting them to score 12-14 right away is unfair,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam didn’t feature in Pakistan’s five-match T20I series against New Zealand as he suffered a grade one tear in his right calf muscle.
As for Iftikhar, he finished with 31 runs at an average of 15.50 and a strike-rate of 100.
In the three-match T20I series against Ireland, Azam amassed 48 runs at an average of 48 and a strike-rate of 266.66.
Iftikhar, meanwhile, made 42 runs at an average of 42 and a strike-rate of 221.05.
Pakistan then played four T20Is against England and Azam could only muster 11 runs in two games at an average of 5.50 and a strike-rate of 73.33.
Iftikhar, on the other hand, accumulated 44 runs at an average of 22 and a strike-rate of 125.71.
The men in green will now be involved in the T20 World Cup, which is taking place in the West Indies and United States of America.
Pakistan’s first T20 World Cup game will be against the United States of America in Dallas on June 6.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
[TS_Poll id=”23″]