The former opening batter of the Pakistan side, Kamran Akmal, has slammed the national batters for their poor performance and their captain Shan Masood along with the team management for handling the spinners in a better way, following their 2-0 series defeat against touring Bangladesh side in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan lost the first game where a strong position with the bat in the first innings. They decided to declare their first innings putting up a huge score of 448, but couldn’t hold onto the advantage as the visitors put up a huge score of 565, and gained a huge and valuable lead.
The home side struggled in the fourth innings and couldn’t show any dominance at home with the bat, apart from Mohammad Rizwan, as the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side scripted their maiden win over the Green Brigade in the longest format of the game.
“These guys are being supported way too much. Honestly, if I were in charge, I swear I wouldn’t let Saim come near the team for the next two years after getting out like he did in the first innings of the second Test, especially after making 50 runs.” Kamran Akmal expressed this in an interview with ‘Cricket Pakistan’.
Kamran Akmal lashes out at the team management and captain of Pakistan
The veteran also questioned the ability of their young and new opener Abdullah Shafique as the latter could think of bringing an aggressive approach to his game in the modern era.
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“Abdullah Shafique, as you can see, is a specialist opener. Whether it’s the first ball or not, cricket has become so fast-paced that runs are expected right from the start. Just killing time and seeing off the ball won’t get you runs.” Kamran Akmal remarked during the interview. “If a player like Abdullah Shafique isn’t scoring runs against such teams, then I think it’s a worrying sign, both for Abdullah and for Pakistan.”
The same story continued for the home side in the second Test in Rawalpindi, as they could put up 274 and only 172 in their two innings of the game. Despite putting early pressure on the opponents, they couldn’t keep the pressure consistently.
The former wicket-keeper batter praised the two pacers of the Bangladesh side, Nahid Rana and Taskin Ahmed, who highlighted sheer pacer to trouble the home side.
“You can look at my statements before the Test series started when it was being said that there would be grassy pitches with bounce. I had mentioned that with the way Bangladesh’s bowling has been performing for the past year and a half, and the pacers they have now, it would be a tough time for Pakistani batters to play.” Kamran Akmal narrated.
He compared how their batters were comfortable in scoring runs against their 130-135 kmph bowlers, and suddenly the rise of 5-10 kmph caused the issue.
Kamran Akmal also raised questions on how their national players hadn’t used their free time in four-day cricket, and when it comes to featuring for the domestic cricket side, they suddenly get the NOCs for the foreign leagues.
“This is a concern for Pakistan’s cricket because the issue is that during their free time, 80% of our players don’t participate in four-day cricket, nor do they like to watch it.” The 42-year-old noted. “You go through the process to get your form back, but here, when it comes to domestic cricket, players get NOCs for foreign leagues.”
The former World Cup-winning captain also criticized the way the management and captain handled their spinners, especially by keeping the talented spinners out of the team. He also wanted to know why they didn’t play a single spinner in the first Test despite of keeping them in the squad.
“If you’ve included him in the ODI team, then play him. If he’s in the T20I squad, then play him. You did the same thing in the World Cup. I don’t know what the approach was—whether you wanted to develop spinners or not. You didn’t let anyone come through because of Shadab. How can you expect new spinners to emerge if you don’t give them timely opportunities?” Kamran Akmal concluded the conversation.