Shoaib Akhtar comes out in support of ‘solid opener’ Abid Ali

• Shoaib Akhtar questions why Abid Ali gets a chance after a player is unavailable.
• The former fast bowler believes Abid Ali would be successful in Australia.

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has come out in support of opening batsman Abid Ali, questioning the cricketing authorities why doesn’t such a ‘solid player’ play more often.

“A solid opener like Abid Ali gets selected only after Imam-ul-Haq got unfit and a place was left vacant. Abid has always scored runs whenever the chance is provided so why doesn’t Pakistan cricket team play with such solid players,” he said in a video.

Speaking about Ali’s inning of 74 runs, which also allowed the batsman to earn a Man of the Match award, Akhtar said that the opener should have gone out to hit a big hundred, and must learn to play the spinners better.

“I saw one problem in Abid Ali’s inning and that was he didn’t played the spinners well, I agree that the leg-spinners were a bit difficult but Abid should have managed to play the googly’s better. However, he played the fast bowlers pretty well and formed a good opening stand with Fakhar Zaman,” he added.

Talking about Pakistan’s upcoming tour of Australia, Akhtar said that Ali alongside Azhar Ali would be successful during the tour Down Under. “Ali alongside Azhar Ali would be the only batsmen for Pakistan capable of taking down Australia. Both of them play quite well, Azhar is pretty determined player, whereas, Abid is a good back foot player but it will be a test for him,” he said.

Despite only getting a chance in absence of fellow opener Imam, the 31-year-old says he remains positive and keep training. “It is a good thing to have a tough competition for the opening slot, so I am always looking to give top performance and make a good comeback,” said Ali during a post match conference.

After winning the ODI series, Pakistan would now meet Sri Lanka in Lahore for a three-match T20I series.