Babar Azam needs to bring improvement in his selection policy: Kamran Akmal

Pakistan has been performing decently under the leadership of Babar Azam and the 26-year-old has managed to impress the cricket fraternity both as a captain and a batsman. Though Pakistan’s veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal was all praises for Babar, he highlighted the areas the batsman can improve as a captain.

Akmal believes that Babar has shown commendable improvement while captaining the Men in Green. However, he needs to bring a change in his selection policy. Giving an example of Pakistan’s legendary skippers like Inzamam ul Haq and Younis Khan, Kamran asserted that both the former captains were very particular regarding the selection of players and always valued domestic experience.

“Babar Azam is improving as a captain with passing time. Although, he needs to bring improvement in his selection policy. Inzi [Inzamamul Haq] and Younis [Khan] bhai were very strict in this matter. They valued domestic experience over short-cut selections. Babar needs to understand that this will affect team performance in the future,” said Akmal as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.

Further, the 39-year-old opined that the Pakistan side needs maturity in their bowling department. Kamran is of the view that Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz should be included in the playing XI of the ICC T20 World Cup as they still possess the ability to deliver match-defining spells.

“The situation will be clear after the tour of England. Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz should be included in the side. Amir has four to five years of cricket left in him, while Riaz can play for another two or three years. Experience is very important. Pakistan needs mature bowlers bearing in mind the flat nature of pitches in India,” he added.

Babar Azam knows where Pakistan stands against India, England: Kamran Akmal

The wicketkeeper-batsman reckoned that Pakistan hasn’t faced any problems while playing with an inexperienced squad as in the past months they have played only against weak teams. Kamran believes that the team will face problems while playing against teams like India and England and thus needs to add experience to their squad.

“Luckily, the teams Pakistan has played against in the past seven or eight months have lacked their top players but I’m sure the coach, selectors, and Babar know where their team stands when they will come up against the likes of India, England Australia. I don’t think they want to admit that this but things will become clear going forward.

“Players need to be selected based on domestic experience. Look at the examples of Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Fawad Alam, and Imamul Haq, they have all been selected on consistent domestic performance which is now being translated in international cricket. I don’t know why the selectors are in a hurry to give young players chances. Maybe they think these players will leave Pakistan if not selected,” he added.

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