Shoaib Akhtar showers praises on Azhar Ali, team Pakistan

A very patriotic side of Shoaib Akhtar was on display on Wednesday. The former Pakistani pace bowler heaped heavy praise on the Pakistani team for their performances in the ongoing Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne. Azhar Ali, in particular, seemed to have impressed the former quickie. In a series of tweets, Akhtar reflected back at the batting performances of Pakistan in the two matches on the tour thus far.

Pakistan had done a brilliant job in the day-night Test at Gabba Brisbane. After being dismissed cheaply in the first innings, they came back really well by almost chasing down a record 490 odd target. In the ongoing Test, Pakistan amassed 443/9 in the first innings riding on a brilliant unbeaten double ton by Azhar Ali.

Shoaib Akhtar in his first tweet indicated that had the weather gods not been an interference, Pakistan could have managed a result in this match. He wrote, “Great effort and awesome display of batting by Pak team .. pity that weather going to reck the result  4 Pak team .”

Great effort and awesome display of batting by Pak team .. pity that weather going to reck the result 4 Pak team .

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) December 28, 2016

In his next tweet, he commended the efforts of Azhar Ali. The opener aggregated 1155 runs in Tests this year that included a double ton and an unbeaten triple ton against West Indies. He also had a special mention of Asad Shafiq in his tweet. He tweeted, “Azhar has answered his critics and silence them with great performances by achieving 1000 runs in calendar year . Must bow down to Asad 2..”

Azhar has answered his critics and silence them with great performances by achieving 1000 runs in calendar year . Must bow down to Asad 2..

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) December 28, 2016

In the last tweet, Shoaib Akhtar was sharp in quoting that Pakistan were the deserving number one side in Test rankings. He wrote, “Almost 900 runs in2 test match in Aus by our batting is great display of their believe & they were rightly belong to no1spot in ICC ranking.”

https://twitter.com/shoaib100mph/status/814116708998909952

Well, how true are the words of Shoaib, it is left for the fans to decide. While some welcomed his tweets, others took time to troll him for his overly patriotic nature on the day.