Pakistan former speedster Shoaib Akhtar raises doubts over current crop of bowlers

Pakistan got off to a brilliant start to the Test series against England as they restricted the hosts to a mere 184 in their first innings. With Abbas and Hassan Ali picking four wickets each, the visitors dominated England right from the first session. At stumps on day one, Pakistan is at 50-1 trailing England’s score by just 134 runs.

However, Shoaib Akhtar seems unhappy with the Pakistani bowlers. The former fast-bowling legend raises questions on the fitness levels of the current bowling line-up. Akhtar lashed out at the youngsters and opined that they play too many limited overs fixtures.

Fitness is a primary concern:

“Bowlers’ fitness is my primary concern, they are not performing consistently precisely because of that. All of them play too many T20 and 50-over matches and that’s their focus. But the real deal is Test cricket, where fitness becomes a real issue. You have to be extremely fit to bowl three or four spells in a day and I don’t see that with this current bowling lot,” Shoaib said while speaking to The Express Tribune.

Pakistan might have a tough time in England, says Akhtar:

” Amir was limping in Ireland, Hasan Ali is not fit either and Rahat Ali is not assured of his role. I think even he can’t decide if he is an attacking bowler or a defensive bowler. In such circumstances, it is natural to believe that Pakistan will have a really tough time in England,” the aggressive pacer added.

However, the side’s performance has been on the first day. The Pacers have got the English batsmen rattled down in the first innings. The former cricketer also added that the seniors should step up and take the responsibility. He opined that the current batting line-up will have a hard time in the seaming conditions. Shoaib feels that the current batsmen aren’t capable of doing well on the seaming tracks.

“This is a new era and people need to step up, Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq in particular because they are the seniors. I genuinely believe our batting is not equipped to playing well in seaming conditions. We are unsure about conditions because we are not acclimatized.  We’ve seen this in Ireland where there was a bit of moisture on the track and our batting struggled. Having said all that, I have full confidence in the Pakistan team. I want them to fight and get in the game. If they get good conditions, they should capitalize on them. I believe this team has the potential to produce good results,” the legendary fast bowler concluded.

Shoaib Akhtar backed Babar Azam and Sarfraz Ahmed. He feels these two are the key batsmen and will have to perform under pressure. However, Shoaib is doubtful of Sarfraz’s fitness.

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