Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik has cleared the air around the uproar caused by former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar’s recent comments about current Pakistani skipper Babar Azam.
“His statement was not meant to hurt anyone. I understood from his statement that he was only trying to say that it’s the demand of modern cricket to groom your personality along with your cricket skills to become a better brand. I know Babar is working on things that Akhtar has pointed out,” the 41-year-old said, while speaking exclusively in an interview for Cricket Pakistan.
Akhtar has a clean heart, and always speaks positively about everyone: Malik
“It’s his [Akhtar] opinion, and yes, we should respect that, only if that opinion is not hurting the sentiment of an individual player. After hearing that statement, the thing that came in my mind was that he gives his statements bluntly. He has a clean heart, and always speaks positively about everyone.”
“Cricket is one job, and handling media is another job. If you can’t speak, I am sorry, but you won’t be able to express yourself on the TV. I want to openly say this that Babar Azam should be the biggest brand of Pakistan, but why he hasn’t become the biggest brand in Pakistan? Because he can’t speak,” Akhtar had said.