'You have to hide him in the field' - Wasim Akram hits out at Sharjeel Khan

In his playing days, Wasim Akram was someone who probably disturbed the sleeping patterns of many batters around the world. Considered as one of the most skillful bowlers, he had the unbelievable ability to swing the ball both ways at a considerable pace. In a career that nearly spanned for 20 long years the Pakistan veteran scalped 414 Test wickets whereas in ODIs he secured as many as 502 wickets.

When it comes to the game of cricket where every run saved is equivalent to a run scored, fielding has been the utmost important thing. Thus, expressing his opinion on the opener Sharjeel Khan’s fielding, Akram said, “Yeah, he does [struggle in few areas of the game]. Obviously fielding, you have to hide him in the field. He immediately goes to short fine-leg when he is fielding,” as reported by Cricket Pakistan.

Speaking during the Kashmir Premier League’s (KPL) drafting ceremony, Wasim also opined that Sharjeel should aim to make a few tweaks in his batting approach rather than becoming a one-dimensional player.

“I told him in PSL as well that you have to change your game. As a bowler, if I’m bowling to Sharjeel, I know that I’m only going to get hit if I bowl a bad ball or he plays an exceptional shot. That’s where the problem with Sharjeel is, there is no in-between as he plays his shots while standing still all the time,” he stated.

I hope Sharjeel works on this: Wasim Akram

Opening up further, Akram said that Sharjeel doesn’t make some room for himself while batting or go towards the offside and thus advised the batter to tinker on these aspects.

“As a bowler, if you keep taking the ball away from him by bowling short of a good length, it becomes difficult for the batsman to score. Sharjeel doesn’t charge down the wicket, make room, or go towards the off-side while batting. I hope Sharjeel works on this.”

Sharjeel is currently part of Pakistan’s T20I squad for the tour of England. Pakistan will draw the sword against England for three ODIs and as many T20Is. The ODI series is scheduled to commence on July 8 with the T20Is kick-starting on July 16.