Shoaib Akhtar: “He [Fakhar Zaman] is a good, mature, and committed player, but you’ve unnecessarily benched him due to ego battles. “Even if you don’t play him now, you will need him sooner or later – if not today, then tomorrow”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar believes power-hitter Fakhar Zaman has been “unnecessarily benched” because of “ego battles”.
His comments come after Zaman was not selected for Pakistan’s limited overs series against Australia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
In addition to this, the 34-year-old was not given a central contract for the 2024/25 season.
Many speculate this occurred because Zaman criticised the decision to drop batsman Babar Azam midway through Pakistan’s three-Test series against England in October 2024.
However, when addressing his non-selection, limited overs head coach Aaqib Javed stated it was due to fitness issues.
Regardless of the real reason, Akhtar admitted that Zaman should not have said anything regarding the removal of Azam from the Test team.
“He [Fakhar Zaman] is a good, mature, and committed player, but you’ve unnecessarily benched him due to ego battles. “Even if you don’t play him now, you will need him sooner or later – if not today, then tomorrow,” the Rawalpindi Express was quoted as saying by Geo Super.
“Fakhar also needs to understand one thing: he should stop giving such statements. Instead, he should perform and let his bat do the talking.”
During their tour of Australia, Pakistan won the ODI series 2-1 but were whitewashed 3-0 in the T20Is.
They then went to Zimbabwe and triumphed 2-1 in both the ODI and T20I series.
As for their ongoing tour of South Africa, the men in green lost the T20I series 2-0 before rebounding to claim a 3-0 victory in the ODIs.
Pakistan and South Africa are now playing a two-Test series, which began on December 26 in Centurion.
Pakistan Squad for South Africa T20I Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair Bin Yousuf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)
Pakistan Squad for South Africa ODI Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)
Pakistan Squad for South Africa Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha