We could've had a better player than Virender Sehwag in Imran Nazir: Shoaib Akhtar

Imran Nazir, when he made his international debut for Pakistan, was touted to be the next big thing. His way of batting aggressively irrespective of the format of the game impressed many. But somehow, his career was cut short to just 8 Tests, 79 ODIs and 25 T20 Internationals. Rather he was also the part of the T20 World Cup 2007 final against India and was potentially winning the game for his team before injury led to him getting run-out.

Despite being precociously talented, he didn’t play for Pakistan after 2012 T20 World Cup. And Shoaib Akhtar, lamenting the fact, has claimed that he could’ve been a better player than Virender Sehwag if Pakistan cricket had taken care of Imran properly. He also went on to say that the explosive Indian opener used his brain in a better way than Imran.

“I don’t think Imran Nazir had the brain that Sehwag had. I don’t think Sehwag had the talent that Imran Nazir had. There is no comparison with regards to talent. We tried to contain him a little. When he hit a brutal hundred against India in a side match, I asked them to play Imran Nazir consistently but they didn’t listen,” Akhtar was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.

We didn’t utilise Imran Nazir well, says Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib Akhtar didn’t mince his words while opening up on the matter as he claimed that Pakistan cricket didn’t nurture Imran Nazir well. He praised the batsman for having all the shots in the book besides from being a very good athlete on the field. The 44-year-old also revealed that Javed Miandad was the reason why Imran used to do well.

“It is unfortunate that we do not know how to take care of our brands. We could have had a player better than Virender Sehwag in Imran Nazir. He had all the shots while also being a good fielder. We could have utilised him brilliantly but we just couldn’t.

“Whenever Imran Nazir played well, it was because of Javed Miandad. He would be in the dressing room and trying to get him to play. Whenever he played a bad shot Javed bhai would send him a message in order to keep him focused,” Shoaib Akhtar further said.