Shoaib Akhtar: “Babar was struggling to even see the ball properly – the deliveries were either hitting his head or his body – and it was clear that Mohammad Amir was well aware of Babar’s weaknesses”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary 161.3 kph fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar noticed Pakistan batsman Babar Azam found it difficult to see the ball properly when facing left-arm speedster Mohammad Amir.
Azam and Amir faced each other twice in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and both times it was Amir who dismissed Azam.
Akhtar pointed out that given how one-sided the battle was between the duo, it was clear that Amir “was well aware of Babar’s weaknesses”.
“Babar was struggling to even see the ball properly – the deliveries were either hitting his head or his body – and it was clear that Mohammad Amir was well aware of Babar’s weaknesses,” the Rawalpindi Express was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“While the crowd was chanting ‘Babar, Babar’ around the ground, Amir was quietly playing his own match.”
Azam captained the Peshawar Zalmi in PSL 10 and made 288 runs in 10 games, which included three fifties, at an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 128.57.
As for Amir, he ended up taking 13 wickets in nine matches for the Quetta Gladiators at an average of 18.07 and an economy rate of 7.79.
Following PSL 10, Pakistan faced Bangladesh in a three-match T20I series, but neither Azam nor Amir were picked for it.
The men in green won the series 3-0.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper) and Saim Ayub
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