Babar Azam's efforts in vain because of batsmen's 'immaturity': Shoaib Akhtar

ISLAMABAD: Former speedster Shoaib Akhtar on Tuesday expressed his disappointment over Pakistan's seven wicket defeat in the second T20 against Australia, however, he lauded skipper Babar Azam for performing well on the crease.

"I feel disappointment for Pakistan and especially for Babar who played superb in both T20s," said the bowling great.

"There is no batsmen who can take charge like Babar."

Babar hit a 50 on 38 balls in the second T20 while the Lahore-born youngster was 59 not out in the first match which was washed out by the rain.

“I am saddened that Babar’s efforts went in vain,” he said.

The Rawalpindi Express added that the Men in Green failed to benefit from the hard surfaced but bounce prone wicket.

Furthermore, Shoaib took a dig at the batting line up and said that their batsmen failed to "show maturity" on a pitch which could have easily scored around 200 runs.

Read more: Babar Azam becomes first Pakistani to score 1,600 T20 runs in a calendar year

“The ball was coming up good but Pakistani openers failed to capitalise.

“Haris Sohail, Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Rizwan lack the maturity of that of Australian batsman Steve Smith,” he said.

The former cricketer said that fast bowler Mohammad Amir put up a good show but fast-man Muhammad Irfan was struggling because of his left leg.

“The management should have thought of Irfan before picking him in the team,” he said.

The former speedster applauded star batsman Smith for his unbeaten 80 which saw the Aussies edge Pakistan by seven wickets to go 1-0 up in the three-match T20 series.

“After comeback Smith has been scoring tons of runs and has proven that he is a T20 player,” he said.