Shoaib Akhtar thinks Pakistan needs Sarfaraz more as a batsman than captain

• Shoaib Akhtar has yet again urged Sarfaraz to improve his batting order.
• He said Pakistan should have preferred Hafeez and Shoaib Malik over Ahmed Shehzad and Umer Akmal.

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has once again urged skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed to improve his batting, saying that the side needs him more as a batsman than as a captain.

“Sarfaraz as a captain is confused, I have been telling him for the past two years to bat higher up the order. The decline in Sarfaraz’s form is because he has not bat for the past two years, and now he is trying to do so but is unable to score runs,” said Akhtar, in a video.

“We have been telling him [Sarfaraz] to correct his batting number as Pakistan needs him more as a batsman than as a captain. If Sarfaraz mints runs with the bat it would be beneficial for him in the long run,” he added.

The statement comes after Pakistan suffered a humiliating loss against Sri Lanka in the first T20I on Saturday, as the visitors crushed the number one T20I team by 64 runs.

Akhtar pointed out that instead of giving chance to Ahmed Shehzad and Umer Akmal, Pakistan should have gone with veterans Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik for the T20Is. “It is a bit unjust to expect from Ahmed Shehzad and Umer Akmal that they would do wonders straight away, as the returning batsmen were already under pressure,” he said.

The returning duo of Shehzad and Akmal failed to impress in the first game with figures of 4 and 0, respectively.

With the three match T20I series 1-0 in favor of Sri Lanka, the Men in Green would need to get their act straight in the second T20I at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.