Pakistan narrowly lost out to India in their opener and then lost by one run against Zimbabwe, leaving their knockout qualification chances hang by a thread. They need to win all of their remaining matches and hope for other results to fall their way if they are to reach the semifinals. As expected, there has been plenty of criticism, with legendary former quick-bowler Akram questioning the selection of the team, and lambasting Babar Azam for not being “intelligent” enough as far as team selection was concerned.

Speaking on Ary Sports in a panel discussion that also featured Malik, Akram said, “For the past year, all of us, including the whole of Pakistan knew that the middle order is slightly weak and dodgy. Shoaib Malik is sitting here in front of us. The end goal of the captain should be how he can win the World Cup. For that, if I have to make a ‘donkey a hero’, I will do it. I am going to win the World Cup. If I want Malik in the middle order, I will make sure and tell that to the chairman of selectors that “I won’t captain the side unless I get my player in the middle order.” But no one is like that.

“He (Babar) has to be more intelligent. This is not a local team where you can have people you know – all of them are good players. But if I was Babar, I would keep him (Malik) in the middle order. These are Australian pitches, not the dead wickets of UAE, Sharjah or Pakistan”.

Malik has not played a T20I this year, with his last appearance coming in November 2021 against Bangladesh. The former skipper has played just one T20I in Australia, where he scored three runs.

Earlier in the year, Imad Wasim also questioned his own omission from the team. Imad last played an international game in November 2021, when he played a T20I match against Australia, and accused the management of not picking him because of “personal dislike.”

In an interview with PakPassion.net, he said, “If they don’t like my face, they should be brave enough to say it and I will be fine with that! Seriously though, not selecting someone for the Pakistan team because of personal dislike is not only unfair to the player and his career but it’s also a disservice to our country as it’s being deprived of the services of a good player. Such actions will eventually cost the country dearly and I urge the selectors to not think of personal likes and dislikes for players when selecting squads.”

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