Islamabad, Sep 22 : Former Pakistan player Azhar Mahmood has advised batsmen Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir and Umar Akmal to apply their brains while batting in a Twenty20 match.
Mahmood said all three of them are highly gifted players, but they need to change their mindless approach towards batting.
“Imran Nazir is very talented but he needs to use his head – he needs to think that if he faces fifty deliveries he will get eighty or ninety runs, but it seems that all he wants to do is to hit the ball out of the ground from ball 1!” Mahmood said in an interview with Pakpassion.net.
“What Imran needs to do is to stay at the crease with a calm mind and use his talent. Instead if he doesn’t use his head then he will get those ten or twelve run scores which are not good for the team,” he added.
“Shahid Afridi is another such case and that really is nothing new. Everybody knows that Afridi has not been performing well as a batsman recently. However, he needs to apply the same advice that I have for Imran Nazir,” Mahmood said.
Mahmood added: “In addition shot selection is very important in T20 cricket – I think a lot of Pakistani players are not doing this and both Nazir and Afridi are guilty of this problem, as is Umar Akmal.”
“Umar also seems to be making the same mistakes. The aforementioned cricketers are so talented but they just don’t seem to be using their minds and their experience when by now they should be experienced enough to know how to approach T20 cricket,” Mahmood concluded.
© ANI
