KARACHI: Kamran Akmal called Shoaib Akhtar’s controversial remarks about star Pakistan batter Babar Azam and the team, a stunt to stay in the headlines.

Former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar stirred a controversy when he made a below-the-belt attack on Pakistan captain Babar and company regarding their presentation and oratory skills in a recent interview given to a private news channel.

“You can see there’s no character in the team, nor do they know how to talk. How awkward it looks when they come to the presentation.” Akhtar had said.

“How difficult is it to learn and speak English?” he taunted.

“Babar is the biggest brand in Pakistan but why he hasn’t become the biggest brand of Pakistan? Because he cannot speak.”

The vexing remarks passed by Akhar, nicknamed Rawalpindi Express, annoyed the cricket fans and former cricketers alike.

Speaking at the ARY News program Har Lambha Pujosh on Tuesday, former wicket-keeper batter Kamran gave a befitting response to his ex-teammate, saying it is unfair of Akhtar to talk about Babar’s presentation since he is doing more advertisements than the former had done in his career.

“I think Shoaib was not getting enough time on screen, that’s why he has said such a thing to keep himself in the headlines,” Akmal said.

“Babar is our captain. He is the top-ranked batter in the world.”

“He is improving day by day as far as his speaking and media handling is concerned. In fact, the number of ads he is doing right now is no match to what Shoaib Akhtar does”

“His (Babar’s) main job is to play cricket and he is remarkable in it. It’s not reasonable to criticize him for the other things” he concluded.

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