Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has lashed out at the current Pakistani bowlers, stating that they need to spend more time in first-class cricket to sharpen their skills. He highlighted the inefficiency of the young bowlers who, according to him, are only focusing on speeding up and not giving any importance to enhancing their skillset.
Salman Butt: Bowlers Need To Spend More Time Playing First Class Cricket
During a conversation on his YouTube channel, Salman Butt opined that lack of first-class experience has been the reason for their below-par performance.
“Bowling at 140 kmph makes no impact if you don’t bowl at proper line and length. The batsmen love playing these types of half-volleys. They only need to direct the ball towards the boundary.
“Pace will help you only if you know how to swing and bowl at the correct line and length. The bowlers need to spend more time playing first-class cricket; not at the gym working on their legs. You’ll become an athlete, not a bowler. It is just like becoming a doctor without MBBS,” said Salman Butt.
According to the former Pakistan skipper, the current Pakistan bowlers only focus on breaching the 140 kmph mark and not on swing, line, and length. Hence, Salman Butt believed that they could become good athletes but not good fast bowlers.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Salman Butt gave his views on the shortcomings of a few Pakistani fast bowlers in PSL 2021 despite the improved facilities in the National High-Performance Center.
Salman Butt: Azam Khan Needs To Perform
The former skipper also spoke about young wicketkeeper-batsman Azam Khan who came under the limelight after being named in the Pakistan national squad. A lot has been spoken about his fitness and Salman Butt believes that the youngster needs to perform well to stay away from criticism.
“Azam Khan needs to perform. He played a couple of good knocks in PSL, but there were many discussions about his fitness. So, every time he fails or misfields, these people will question his fitness. The only way out of all this is to keep performing,” Butt said.
Pakistan has recalled pacer Naseem Shah for the Test series against the West Indies. Meanwhile, Azam Khan, who is an uncapped hard-hitting batsman from Quetta Gladiators participating in PSL, has been picked in the T20I set-up that will play against England and the West Indies.
Azam Khan, who scored at a strike rate of over 144 for Gladiators, makes it to the T20I squad. Azam Khan has notched up 743 runs at an impressive strike rate of 157.41 in his T20 career so far. Salman Butt opined that people will always question Azam Khan’s place in the playing XI because of his fitness, and the only way the stumper could shut their mouths was by performing well.