Shoaib Akhtar lambasts team management, favours Hasan Ali over Babar Azam as Pakistan captain

There is no end of criticism for the Pakistan side and former pacer Shoaib Akhtar has questioned Babar Azam’s captaincy after they slipped into another defeat in the second ODI of the series against England at Lord’s.

Akhtar, on the other hand, said that he would have backed Hasan Ali, who took a five-wicket haul in the second ODI, to take over the captaincy as he possesses perfect qualities such as ‘spark and intelligence’ to become a leader.

“I would have played him [Babar Azam] as a batsman. If I had to select a captain from this team, it would have been Hasan Ali as he has the spark and intelligence,” Akhar said to PTV Sports.

Akhtar said that head things been in his control, he would have asked Babar Azam to compare himself with the other great batsmen of this ear such as Kane Williamson and Ben Stokes and lead the Pakistan batting lineup from the front. He said Pakistan have been so awful that if there were to be a Test series after the ODI series, matches would have finished inside two days.

“My approach is completely different, I would have made Babar a great batsman and put pressure on him to play a certain type of innings so that the entire Pakistan team plays around him. “I would have compared these Pakistan players with the likes of Kane Williamson, Virat Kohli and Ben Stokes and encourage them to become better than these players. I would have taken Babar Azam towards that but unfortunately, we have a very sad scenario right now. Pakistan have lost the series and it’s very disappointing. Thankfully, there were no Test matches as they would have ended inside two days,” he added.

Akhtar also lambasted the team management for playing an outdated brand of ODI cricket which proved to be their undoing in the series against England, who have evolved their game to a ‘different' brand of cricket.

Pakistan have lost the ODI series after the batsmen failed to cope with the challenges posed by English pace bowlers.

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