“Very Poor Shot Selection”: Former Pakistan Captain Slams Babar Azam And Co’s Batting Against Sri Lanka

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt was not impressed with the Babar Azam-led side’s batting in the Asia Cup match against Sri Lanka. After being put into bat, Pakistan were bundled out for a paltry total of 121. In reply, Sri Lanka dodged past initial hurdles to win the match by five wickets and with three overs to spare. While pointing out that most of the players have played tape-ball cricket all their lives, Butt said that the Pakistan batters should’ve easily read the Sri Lankan spinners better.

“The way Pakistan’s batters got out was quite disappointing. They’ve played tape ball cricket all their lives. How can they not read Hasaranga’s variations from the finger? Straight finger means the ball will spin away and behind the hand means the delivery will come in. Iftikhar Ahmed could not read a googly in an earlier match. In this game as well, he couldn’t pick the variation,” Butt said during a discussion on his YouTube channel.

Butt also came down hard on the players for their shot selection.

“The kind of shots Pakistan batters played, I won’t call it a bad day for them. I would describe it as very poor shot selection. We could have said it was a bad day for them if they had some poor luck. However, batters were getting dismissed due to their inability to read the bowlers,” he said.

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Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka will face off once again in the Asia Cup final on Sunday.

Sri Lanka have won the Asia Cup five times, while Pakistan have only lifted the title twice.