Ahmed Shehzad: “You have picked your friends and given them 40 matches to prove their worth and this is hurting Pakistan cricket. You can give 40 matches to this [42]-year-old (points to Imran Nazir), and he will also give you performances at this age”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan batsman Ahmed Shehzad believes 42-year-old aggressive opener Imran Nazir would be able to score runs if limited overs captain Babar Azam were to give him a prolonged run in the team.
The 32-year-old’s remarks came as he criticised Azam for selecting his friends and giving them many chances to “prove their worth”.
The 29-year-old continues to stick with them despite their failures and Shehzad noted that “this is hurting Pakistan cricket”.
“You have picked your friends and given them 40 matches to prove their worth and this is hurting Pakistan cricket. You can give 40 matches to this [42]-year-old (points to Imran Nazir), and he will also give you performances at this age. Look at our domestic performers, they are ignored and they are leaving the country, going to the USA and UAE to play cricket,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Shehzad also lashed out at Azam for not being able to find any solid middle order batsmen and developing any proper all-rounders. Both areas remain a big concern for Pakistan and it has proven to be their downfall time and time again in matches.
“You are a middle order batter and a leader, and you had five years to build the team, but you have not been able to develop a single middle order batter; there is no proper all-rounder in the team. You did not develop anyone; you only needed players who hit blindly because you want to bat for 15 overs, and then you have these players come in and try to hit blindly,” he said.
Azam recently captained Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup and accumulated 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
The men in green lost to the United States of America and India before fighting back to take down Canada and Ireland.
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