Basit Ali: “Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, and Saud Shakeel batted as if it was a very difficult pitch like what we get in Australia and England. They didn’t play according to the pitch and were only concerned about taking their turns, which is wrong”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has hinted that the batting trio of Babar Azam, Abdullah Shafique and Saud Shakeel played for themselves in the first Test against England.
He noted that they “didn’t play according to the pitch” and seemed focus on padding their own statistics.
Basit pointed out that the wicket was not a difficult one and Azam, Shafique and Shakeel should have been more aggressive at times.
“Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, and Saud Shakeel batted as if it was a very difficult pitch like what we get in Australia and England. They didn’t play according to the pitch and were only concerned about taking their turns, which is wrong,” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
“When Saud Shakeel was batting, England were bowling on one side. However, the mid-on and mid-off were inside the circle for spinners. He could have looked to clear those fielders.”
Azam only played in the first Test of the series and made 35 runs in total at an average of 17.50.
Shafique, meanwhile, finished with 132 runs, which included a top score of 102, at an average of 26.40.
As for Shakeel, he amassed 280 runs, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 56.
Pakistan ended up winning 2-1, which was their first Test series victory on home soil since 2021.
Next up for Pakistan will be a white-ball tour of Australia, where they will play three ODIs and three T20Is from November 4 to 18.
The men in green will then travel to Zimbabwe for three ODIs and three T20Is from November 24 to December 5.
Pakistan Squad for Australia ODI Series: Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Pakistan Squad for Australia T20I Series: Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Khan
Pakistan Squad for Zimbabwe ODI Series: Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tayyab Tahir
Pakistan Squad for Zimbabwe T20I Series: Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Irfan Khan, Omair bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir, Usman Khan