“Boys kher hai?”: Shoaib Akhtar bemused with Pakistan’s unaggressive batting approach vs Sri Lanka in Asia Cup 2022

Gurpreet Singh | 09/09/2022
"Boys kher hai?": Shoaib Akhtar bemused with Pakistan's unaggressive batting approach vs Sri Lanka in Asia Cup 2022

Shoaib Akhtar bemused with Pakistan’s docile approach with the bat during the last match of the ‘Super 4’ stage of Asia Cup 2022.

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has been left clueless with the way Pakistan approached their innings after being invited to bat first by Sri Lanka in the final match of the ongoing ‘Super 4’ stage of Asia Cup 2022, at the Dubai International Stadium.

Under fire throughout the tournament so far, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam (30 off 29), did manage to get some runs tonight in this dead rubber, but his lack-of-intent approach in a T20 game was yet again criticized by the Pakistan fans, after he headed back towards the pavilion with a strike rate of 103.45.

None of the top-4 batters of the Pakistani batting line-up – Mohammad Rizwan (14 off 14), Fakhar Zaman (13 off 18), Iftikhar Ahmed (13 off 17), and Babar managed to get going with their innings, as they chewed up majority of the deliveries, to ultimately huff-and-puff towards 121/10 in 19.1 Overs.

Had it not been for a useful 26 (18) by Mohammad Nawaz, Pakistan would have struggled to even surpass the 100-run mark.

Shoaib Akhtar bemused with Pakistan’s batting approach 

An understandably puzzled Shoaib Akhtar took to his social media handle to question the mood of the Pakistani batters tonight, as they played too defensively for a T20 innings, despite the match being of very little significance.

Sri Lanka’s all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga was the star with the ball, as he returned with figures of 4-0-21-3, getting rid of Babar, Iftikhar Ahmed, and the dangerous Asif Ali (0 off 1) in the process.

Apart from Hasaranga, spinners Maheesh Theekshana (4-0-21-2) and Dhananjaya de Silva (4-0-18-1) tightened the noose around the Pakistan batters, who were batting on the very pitch where Virat Kohli had smashed his maiden T20I century the previous day.

Post Edited By: Gurpreet Singh
Asia Cup 2022 Pakistan Shoaib Akhtar Sri Lanka

About the author

Gurpreet Singh

Gurpreet Singh is a Cricket writer at The Sportsrush. His platonic relationship with sports had always been there since childhood, but Cricket managed to strike a special, intimate nerve of his heart. Although his initial dream of playing the sport at the highest level couldn't come to fruition, Gurpreet did represent the state of Jharkhand at the under-14 level. However, almost like taking a pledge to never let the undying passion for Cricket fade away even a tad, he made sure to continue the love relationship by assigning the field of journalism as an indirect Cupid. He thus, first finished his bachelor's in journalism and then pursued the PG Diploma course in English journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). Soon after and since 2019, he has been working at The Sportsrush. Apart from sports, he takes keen interest in politics, and in understanding women and gender-related issues.

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