LAHORE: Former Pakistan’s pacer Shoaib Akhtar has criticized national team captain Babar Azam’s for playing slow innings in the second T20I against South Africa and advised the Pakistan captain to improve his strike rate.
Speaking on national TV, the right-handed bowler said, “Our batsmen need to think whether their style of batting and strike-rate is good enough for this format.”
“If you give 50 balls to Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli or Aiden Markram, what will they do and what did Babar do?” Akhtar asked. He further said, “Babar is a great player but 50 runs off 50 balls, is not good enough.”
“You can’t go into your shell if wickets are falling at the other end. Babar can compare his innings to Aiden Markram’s innings. Wickets were also falling when Markram was batting but he still continued to play his attacking cricket,” he added.
Babar Azam, scored the second slowest half-century for Pakistan in T20I history in the second match against South Africa at Johannesburg. Babar took 49 balls to reach his half-century, helping Pakistan set a target of 141.
The Proteas batsmen chased down the target comfortably, winning the match by six wickets, and leveled the series 1-1. Former opening batsman, Shoaib Khan, holds the record for the slowest T20I half-century for Pakistan. He scored his fifty off 53 balls in 2008 against Zimbabwe.
