Azhar Ali: “Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad were more talented than the rest of us. They just could not flourish in international cricket like they should have”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan captain Azhar Ali said batsmen Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad “were more talented than the rest of us”.
He noted that both players had plenty of potential to be great cricketers, but “just could not flourish in international cricket like they should have”.
While Akmal and Shehzad have both been in the spotlight for disciplinary issues, Azhar also questioned whether the team management was to blame for not utilising them properly.
“Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad were more talented than the rest of us. They just could not flourish in international cricket like they should have,” he was quoted as saying by A Sports.
“A bit of the responsibility and blame lies on the management. Did they utilise methods through which Akmal and Shehzad could have gotten better? And if they believed that the two players had other issues then they should have been counselled.”
Neither Akmal nor Shehzad was part of the Pakistan team for the recent 2024 T20 World Cup, where the men in green were eliminated in the group stage.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup:Â 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