'I played against the greats of the game but Steve Smith is very different' - Wasim Akram

Pakistan will open their campaign in ICC Test Championship at The Gabba in Brisbane.

View : 4.3K

2 Min Read

Wasim Akram
info
Wasim Akram. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Pakistan is gearing up for the 1st Test against Australia that will begin from the 21st of November at The Gabba. The biggest headache for the Men in Green would be the wicket of Steve Smith, who is the number one Test batsman. He has performed extremely well in the longer format since his return to the national squad after finishing off his ban and was the leading scorer in 2019 Ashes. However, Wasim Akram, the former pacer has come up with advice for the bowlers that would help them to dismiss the right-handed player in the early phase of the game.

Smith has piled up some big runs in the longer format of the game in the recent past. After finishing up with the T20I series, he went onto play a Sheffield Shield game against Western Australia. In that game as well he scored a century while laying for New South Wales in that match.

After Misbah-ul-Haq, now Wasim Akram comes up with advice for the bowlers

Wasim Akram feels that the Pakistan bowlers should concentrate on their plans and bowl in the areas accordingly. They don’t need to follow Steve Smith as he sometimes stands outside off-stump and sometimes inside. He keeps on changing but the bowlers should not follow him as per his batting stance. Akram also added that he has played against many greats, but Smith is very different from those players.

“I played against the greats of the game … but Smithy’s very, very different. Sometimes he stands outside off stump, sometimes he stands middle, sometimes leg stump. Concentrate on what you want, don’t follow his stance, his movement and go for your plans, not his,”  the former Pakistan pacer said as quoted by Hindustan Times.

Earlier, Misbah-ul-Haq had cleared the fact that the bowlers of his team will try to bowl at the blind spot of the former Aussie skipper. As per him, every batsman has a blind spot where it becomes difficult for them to play their preferred shots. But, it is important to bowl in that area with consistency.

“As far as Steve Smith goes, there’s a blind spot for every top batsman in the world; as a bowler, you’re always interested in pitching the ball there, It’s important that we bowl with consistency there. Our bowlers are executing the plans very well right now, and hopefully, we’ll be able to build that kind of pressure, and stay disciplined especially early in the innings.” Pakistan’s head coach said.

[interaction id=”5dbd8c112b2176ccbd62ff67”]

Get every cricket updates! Follow Us:

googletelegraminstagramwhatsappyoutubethreadstwitter

Download Our App

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS and Google Play Store