'He has the spark and intelligence' - Shoaib Akhtar reveals his captaincy choice for Pakistan

Pakistan couldn’t bounce back in the second ODI against England as yet again their batting line-up struggled to make a mark. With the likes of the star batters losing their wickets early on, Pakistan couldn’t build on their innings and had to face defeat. Taking into consideration this scenario, the former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar opined that Hasan Ali should rather be given the mantle of captaining the men in green.

It is often said that captaincy brings pressure on the players and their game tends to get affected by it. Thus, Shoaib Akhtar said that Hasan Ali can be a captaincy choice for Pakistan owing to his abilities. He also asserted that Babar Azam should be groomed purely as a batter and that the entire team could then play around him.

“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. 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.”

We are playing cricket of the black and white days: Shoaib Akhtar

The game of cricket is all about adapting to the changes and shaping the team accordingly. Opening up on this thought, Akhtar spoke on Pakistan’s disappointing playing approach that has in a way tend to leave them behind in the race of modern cricket.

The fact that England’s second-string team dominated Pakistan in both the games has brought the side under a lot of scrutiny. On the other hand, England has exuded class and shown some great character on the field to secure the lead of 2-0 in the three match ODI series. The Ben Stokes-led side displayed their sheer flair in both the games to emerge triumphantly.

“England is playing a different brand of cricket, whereas Pakistan is stuck in the 1970s. We are playing cricket of the black and white days, meanwhile, other teams have gone far ahead of us,” Shoaib added.