'His statement was not meant to hurt anyone' - Shoaib Malik on Shoaib Akhtar's 'Babar can't speak to media' remark

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.

Shoaib Akhtar had recently questioned Babar Azam's personality while facing the media and gone on to slam his communication skills while dealing with international media representatives. This had caused a massive outrage with many calling Akhtar to be "insensitive".

"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

Malik stated that Akhtar by no means had any intention to hurt or ill-regard anyone. He also said that the 45-year-old's comments on Babar Azam were blown completely out of proportion and people were unnecessarily creating a fuss about it. As for Babar, the 28-year-old has received the message and is working on grooming himself for the international stage. 

“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."

For the unversed, Akhtar's comments about Babar Azam's inability to communicate well with the media had garnered a lot of criticism.

"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.

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