Akhtar finds Mohammad Sami ‘mentally weak’

KARACHI: Former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has portrayed Mohammad Sami, as mentally weak, after growing criticism over Sami’s selection to the Pakistan Twenty20 international squads that will play against Australia and in the World Cup T20 in Sri Lanka in September-October this year after he failed to make an impact on the Sri Lankan tour.

"Sami is a mentally weak athlete and he can’t take pressure," Akhtar said.

At the same time, Akhtar conceded that Sami hasn’t always had luck going his way. "Sami was also an unlucky bowler as many times straightforward catches were dropped off his bowling while in some instances umpires didn’t give decisions in his favour," he added.

The Rawalpindi Express also observed that in a bid to compete with him, Sami also tried to bowl fast all the time but couldn’t control his line and length.

Akhtar was not the only one who criticised Sami. Pakistan’s former captain, Waqar Younis, also had recently criticised the performance of Sami in Sri Lanka, urging the selectors to go for young blood and to repose more confidence in someone like Junaid Khan.

Sami’s Test record of 85 wickets in 36 matches at an average of 52.74 was described as “abysmal” by the newspaper. In ODIs, Sami averages 28.52 with 121 wickets from 85 games and in T20s, he averages 14.60 with ten wickets from five games.