Ex-captain picks Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi as stars of South Africa tour

Former Pakistan captain turned cricket commentator Ramiz Raja, picked top order batsman Babar Azam and teenage speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi as the stars of Pakistan during the tour of South Africa, which concluded last night with Pakistan winning the third and final T20I by 27 runs.

“Azam showcased how talented he is in all formats of the game, similarly, teenager Afridi bowled really well. However, Afridi needs to improve in the fielding department, and I am hopeful that he will,” said Raja at Ramiz Speaks.

Azam was by far Pakistan’s most consistent batsman on the tour scoring 221 runs, 195 runs and 151 runs in Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively. Meanwhile, Shaheen picked 17 wickets during the entire tour of South Africa.

“Batsmen need to convert their starts, whereas bowlers need to bring variety into their attack and also need to work on their fielding as a team in today’s cricket cannot afford to miss catches and run out chances,” said Raja.

The ex-captain also praised the performance of batsmen Shan Masood and Imam-ul-Haq, who claimed the Man of the Series award in the ODI series, and was hopeful that Pakistan would learn from their mistakes and would emerge as a ‘complete package’ in the upcoming World Cup.