Kamran Akmal: “I can guarantee that I haven’t seen ego in him. He respects his family and meets everyone respectfully. But what I want from him is that, when he enters the field, he doesn’t act bigger than the game”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal guaranteed he hasn’t seen any ego in star player Babar Azam.
Akmal noted that Azam is respectful to everyone, but needs to make sure that “he doesn’t act bigger than the game”.
He also urged the 30-year-old to “prioritise Pakistan” at a time when he is struggling to score runs consistently.
“I can guarantee that I haven’t seen ego in him. He respects his family and meets everyone respectfully. But what I want from him is that, when he enters the field, he doesn’t act bigger than the game. Prioritise Pakistan. The investments he made in some players during his tenure as Pakistan captain didn’t favour the country, either,” Akmal said on The Game Plan as quoted by NDTV.
Azam was not selected for Pakistan’s T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore, the tour of Bangladesh, the three T20Is against the West Indies, and the T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan.
He did, however, play in the three-match ODI series against the West Indies and accumulated 56 runs at an average of 18.66.
Pakistan recently featured in the 2025 Asia Cup, but Azam was not included in the squad.
The men in green made it to the final in the tournament, but ended up losing to India by five wickets.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a home series against South Africa from October 12 to November 8.
The series will consist of two Tests, three T20Is, and three ODIs.
Pakistan squad for South Africa Test series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Asif Afridi, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Noman Ali, Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi