'Pakistan needs Sarfaraz Ahmed more as a batsman than as a captain,' says Shoaib Akhtar

Pakistan has successfully hosted an ODI series for Sri Lanka and now they are involved in a T20I series against the islanders. The hosts won the 50 over series by 2-0 but in the opener of the T20I series, they faced a humiliating defeat by 64 runs as Pakistan was not able to chase an average looking target of 165 runs.

Currently, the hosts are on number one position in the T20I team ranking table whereas Sri Lanka can be seen far below them on eighth spot but all credits should be given to the inexperienced team of Islanders who seriously dominated the hosts irrespective of their ranking in the table. The current team of visitors is without many of their big players who earlier stepped back from touring to the green flag nation.

After facing a defeat in the first T20I, the former pacer Shoaib Akhtar has come down with an opinion and advice for Sarfaraz Ahmed who is currently the in-charge of Pakistan in the field.

Shoaib Akhtar gives important advice to Sarfaraz Ahmed

The former speedster feels that Sarafaraz looks confused as a skipper and has asked him to bat up the order which he has not taken into his account which has led to the decline in his form, “Sarfaraz as a captain is confused, I have been telling him for the past two years to bat higher up the order. The decline in Sarfaraz’s form is because he has not batted for the past two years, and now he is trying to do so but is unable to score runs,” Shoaib said as quoted by Business Recorder.

In his opinion, the team needs him more as a batsman at the moment and he needs to upgrade his order over another batsman in the team, “We have been telling him [Sarfaraz] to correct his batting number as Pakistan needs him more as a batsman than as a captain. If Sarfaraz mints run with the bat it would be beneficial for him in the long run,” he added.

Shoaib has also asked the team management that it is very unfair to send Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shezad too early in the match as they are returning back after long time-lapse in the team, “It is a bit unjust to expect from Ahmed Shehzad and Umer Akmal that they would do wonders straight away, as the returning batsmen were already under pressure,” 44-year-old former cricketer said.

At the moment Pakistan is lagging in a three-match T20I series by 1-0 against Sri Lanka with the next match scheduled to be played in Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore on 7th October 2019.

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