Mohammad Rizwan needs to speak less and not act as captain behind the stumps: Shoaib Akhtar

The Pakistan cricket team was involved in a One-day International after a span of 13 months against Zimbabwe on October 30, Friday at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The first ODI of the three-match ODI series witnessed a clinical performance by the hosts across all three facets of the game be it bowling, batting or fielding as they registered a victory by 26 runs.

However, the former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar was not happy with the wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan for continuously advising the bowlers from behind the stumps. Shoaib reckoned that he felt frustrated with the way Rizwan was trying to act as a captain and show his supremacy on the field.

The seamer further stated that the wicketkeeper should patiently wait for the time when he will be the leader of the squad instead of acting like one in the present scenario. Notably, Rizwan is being considered as one of the top contenders for Pakistan’s Test captaincy, along with current limited-overs skipper Babar Azam, in place of Azhar Ali.

“Rizwan needs to speak less and not act as captain behind the stumps. He will be the captain in times to come but for now he needs to stop giving too many instructions to bowlers about where to bowl. Just tell him about what the batsman is trying to do and leave the rest to the bowler,” said Akhtar on PTV Sports.

“It was very awkward and made me extremely uncomfortable. Also, without crowd noise these things get amplified when you are listening on television,” he added.

Pacers scripted victory for Pakistan in the first ODI against Zimbabwe

Having won the toss, Babar Azam opted to bat first. The hosts managed to post a competitive total of 281 on the board in their 50 overs on the back of 58 runs off 75 deliveries by Imam-ul-Haq followed by impressive innings of 71 off 82 by Haris Sohail. Imad Wasim also played a quick cameo by smashing 34 unbeaten in 26 deliveries in the fag end of the innings.

It was Shaheen Afridi show in Rawalpindi as the young seamer took a five-wicket haul to initiate a collapse of Zimbabwe’s batting line-up. Afridi was aptly supported by Wahab Riaz who named four wickets in his 9.4 overs. Though the wicketkeeper-batsman Brendan Taylor tried to take his team home by smashing a ton (112 off 117), no other batsman took up the responsibility and thus the visitors registered a defeat by 26 runs.