'Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma were backed by MS Dhoni' - Ahmed Shehzad opens up about not receiving enough support

Pakistan batsman Ahmed Shehzad has revealed in an interview that he never got the right kind of support and confidence from his support staff or captain. The batsman was once looked upon as the future prospect for Pakistan. However, he has faded slightly after showing lack of a consistent run with the bat.

Upon being asked if there was pressure on him on consistent comparisons with Virat Kohli, the Pakistan batsman revealed that there was a lot of it on him. He described that players should be compared without first judging their cricket board, captain, coach and everything else.

“Of course, there is pressure due to comparisons. We tend to compare two players without focussing on their respective backgrounds. For any player to succeed, it requires the backing of the coach, captain and cricket board. In short, he or she needs confidence in order to do well,” Shehzad told Cricingif.

A player’s confidence won’t increase unless he gets support: Ahmed Shehzad

Shehzad indicated that he never got the confidence from the management. He explained that a player can’t perform well if he or she is fighting for survival in the side.

“Unless and until a player is given required support and a longer rope, his or her confidence won’t increase. Then, they tend to fight for survival,” he added.

The 28-year-old said that players like Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Joe Root, Babar Azam and Kane Williamson have been lucky. He pointed out that Kohli had revealed that Dhoni had backed him during his bad form and that was also the case with Rohit. According to Shehzad, Dhoni showed faith in them, which they repaid with performances over a course of time.

“If you look at the backgrounds of Virat, Rohit Sharma, Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Babar Azam, they have been really lucky as well. Kohli had revealed that he was going to be dropped from plenty of series but MS Dhoni backed him. Same was the case with Rohit Sharma. Thus, faith was instilled upon them by Dhoni,” Shehzad said.

The right-handed batsman has played only 13 Tests and scored 982 at an average of 40.91. However, he last played a Test back in 2017. In ODIs as well, Shehzad played his last match in 2017. His last appearance in T20Is came in 2019 when he briefly made a comeback for the national team but was subsequently dropped. Shehzad is the only batsman from Pakistan to have scored a century in all three formats at the highest level.