‘It’s not just about winning ICC Player of the Year awards’: Praising Azam, Shoaib Akhtar takes a dig at Babar

Talking about Azam Khan, who has been the third highest run scorer in the Pakistan Super League so far with 242 runs in six outings, Akhtar referred to the 24-year-old as 'captaincy material' for Pakistan.

Last year, ahead of the T20 World Cup, Shoaib Akhtar had mimicked a weak pull shot citing an example of the Pakistan captain Babar Azam and later Mohammad Rizwan. (Photo/Screengrab: Reuters & Shoaib Akhtar/YouTube).

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Former Pakistan pace sensation Shoaib Akhtar had recently been in the light for praising Shadab Khan and even suggesting him as a white ball captain for Pakistan, taking a veiled dig at the current Pakistan captain Babar Azam.

The Rawalpindi Express has done it again.

Talking about Azam Khan, who has been the third highest run scorer in the Pakistan Super League so far with 242 runs in six outings, Akhtar referred to the 24-year-old as ‘captaincy material’ for Pakistan.

“I found Azam Khan as a responsible guy who can build the innings, not just slog. He spoke smartly in the interview as well, and it felt nice to hear him speak like that as he talked about his performance. When I was playing 20 years ago, I didn’t care how I spoke. But in today’s era, being in media is a part of your job. I can only indicate and pin-point for you, ‘this is a problem, please go and correct it. It’s for your own benefit’. He (Azam) looked like a captaincy material with the way he spoke,” Akhtar told Suno News.

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Akhtar then added that just winning ICC Player of the Year awards didn’t mean everything. This, almost a month after Babar was named the same by the world cricket governing body.

“When Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shahid Afridi, and Abdul Razzaq used to play, they would say, ‘the whole ground and its crowd is mine. I control the atmosphere in this place’. And Azam was controlling that. That’s how you become a star. It’s not just about winning ICC Player of the Year awards, no no. The things Azam did… crowd backed him, he took their ownership. He was like, ‘I’m here to run the show’,” Akhtar remarked.

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