Former Pakistan captain Azhar Ali made a massive claim about Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad as he termed the duo more talented than the rest of the players.
Ali, however, highlighted that their problem was they could not flourish in international cricket.
“Umar Akmal and Ahmad Shehzad were more talented than the rest of us. They just could not flourish in international cricket like they should have, stated Ali on a local sports channel.
He further blamed the then management for not handling them well. He maintained if Akmal and Shehzad had disciplinary issues then they should have been counselled.
“A bit of the responsibility and blame lies on the management. Did they utilise methods through which Akmal and Shehzad could have gotten better? And if they believed that the two players had other issues then they should have been counselled,” Azhar Ali concluded.
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Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal, who made their respective debuts for Pakistan in 2009, were integral parts of the national team till 2016.
Their last appearance, however, came in the three-match home T20I series against Sri Lanka in 2019.
Shehzad managed modest scores of four and 13 in the opening two T20Is of the home series respectively while Akmal even failed to score a run as he got out on back-to-back golden ducks.
The duo was subsequently dropped from the third T20I of the series and has not represented Pakistan since then.