Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar has expressed fears over Pakistan’s batting strength in their impending Test series against England in the UAE. “I believe that Pakistan is the best one-day side in the world. But when it comes to Test matches I have fears about the batting and whether it has the depth and stability to do well against England,” he said.
Akhtar has remained out of the media glare in Pakistan ever since he announced his retirement in during the 2011 World Cup. The former pacer said that a lot will depend on experienced Younus Khan.
“Younus has an important role to play in this series. He has to play an anchor role. If he is unable to do that than Pakistan will face problems against the England bowling even in the UAE,” Akhtar said. Akhtar pointed out that England definitely had more depth in their batting compared to Pakistan.
He said this was the reason he felt that former captain, Mohammad Yousuf should have been selected for the series. “Look Yousuf can easily play two more years of Test cricket and against a top attack like England I think Pakistan needs two quality batsmen like Yousuf and Younus.
“UAE is not Australia and I think if Yousuf had been recalled he would have played an important role against England even now,” Akhtar said. Akhtar said Pakistan did not need to treat it as a revenge series. “It is good if we show controlled aggression. But our aggression should be focused on bowling a good line and our batsmen prepared to be patient. It is useless wasting our energies otherwise.”