Former captain and member of the victorious 1992 World Cup squad, Wasim Akram has urged Pakistan to not take West Indies lightly and get their tournament off to a sound start.
Pakistan face West Indies in their tournament opener on Friday (May 31) and Akram said all he wanted was that the Sarfraz Ahmed-led side plays fearless cricket.
“West Indies is a very dangerous side. I want Pakistan to play bravely, with a big heart and play on front foot,” Akram told Geo.tv. “See how Root played today after losing first wicket early. You don’t need to slog but you must play proper cricketing shots. We need someone to bat like him.”
“Fakhar is an attacking player. He has been there for long and now people know how to bowl him. It is now up to Fakhar how to counter opposition’s strategy on him as bowlers are not going to give him room. Opening pair has to fire,” he said.
“All the teams are tough, Pakistan don’t look too strong. They’ll really have to work hard to be in the semi-finals.”
“The 12 announced for the match against West Indies looks good. Pakistan is rightly going with five bowlers as we were strolling with bowling options recently. The ground looks very high scoring with par score of 370 and Pakistan must score this much runs,” the former fast bowler said.
