Shoaib Akhtar disappointed with Pakistan’s performance after series defeat

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar expressed his discontentment on Friday evening as Pakistan lost the final Test of the 3-match home series against New Zealand. It was once again courtesy a dismal batting performance from the hosts in the fourth innings of the third Test at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. The defeat has resulted in a first-ever series loss for Pakistan against the Kiwis at home since 1969.

Although the hosts bowled extremely well throughout the series, with leg-spinner Yasir Shah winning the man of the series award, it’s the batting, in the fourth innings to be specific, that has let them down on both the Test matches they lost. The Rawalpindi Express had every reason to feel unhappy about the results as the poor application from batsmen cost the side a pivotal series.

Disheartening performance

Akhtar stated that he felt nothing but dejected to see how Pakistan collapsed as a team. Given that Pakistan had a solid lead of 74 runs in the first innings, they were expected to chase down a relatively easy target in the fourth innings, until the class and calibre of Kane Williamson, the New Zealand skipper, produced a fabulous 212-run partnership with Henry Nicholls which propelled them to set a defendable target of 280.

The 43-year-old also pressed on the fact that the Pakistani batsmen have delivered a disheartening performance yet again. One has every reason to agree with Shoaib’s claim as Pakistan bundled out for meagre 156 runs in their fourth innings. Babar Azam showed a lot of character as he struck a half-century but none of the other batsmen assisted him in the quest of a tricky run-chase.

Really sad to see Pak team collapsing like that really disheartening performance by Pak batting ..

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) December 7, 2018

The series defeat should turn out to be an eye-opener for Pakistan cricket team as they should eye on building a batting unit that can consistently deliver across conditions.

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~ Written by Harikrishnan Sivakumar

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