{"id":153618,"date":"2025-09-22T18:45:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T18:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/153618\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T18:45:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T18:45:17","slug":"shoaib-akhtar-goes-ballistic-calls-pakistan-captain-weakest-link-salman-agha-ko-nahi-pata-kya-kaptaani-kar-raha-hai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/153618\/","title":{"rendered":"Shoaib Akhtar goes ballistic, calls Pakistan captain weakest link: \u2018Salman Agha ko nahi pata, kya kaptaani kar raha hai\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Legendary pacer Shoaib Akhtar<\/a> slammed Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha left, right, and centre after another crushing defeat against India in the Asia Cup 2025<\/a>. Pakistan suffered back-to-back defeats against India in the continental tournament, which has put them under the scanner. From squad choices to bowling rotations, almost every decision has gone wrong for them when facing India. Frontline bowlers such as Shaheen Afridi<\/a>, Abrar Ahmed<\/a>, and Mohammad Nawaz<\/a> have struggled to leave a mark, while the batting unit\u2014featuring captain Salman, Mohammad Harris, and Saim Ayub\u2014has also failed to deliver in the high-octane clashes.<\/p>\n

\"Shoaib Shoaib Akhtar slammed Salman Agha for his captaincy.(X and AFP) <\/p>\n

Akhtar, known for his bold views, heavily criticised Pakistan\u2019s team management, lashing out at them for repeatedly making poor decisions that have cost the side crucial matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really don\u2019t understand what the management is thinking. Wrong decisions are being made repeatedly. The middle order isn\u2019t planned properly, and the powerplay isn\u2019t being utilised effectively,” Akhtar told Tapmad.<\/p>\n

The legendary pacer criticised the poor use of bowlers, highlighting how wayward lines, lengths, and even questionable choices like mistimed bouncers set the tone for another disappointing outing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBowlers are also not being used wisely. There was no coordination, the lines and lengths were poor\u2014starting with a bad bouncer, and then things just kept getting worse,” he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cSalman Agha is the weakest link\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rawalpindi Express didn’t hold back and called skipper Salman the weakest link in the line-up and also slammed him for his captaincy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSalman ko khud nahi pata wo kya kaptaani kar raha hai (Salman himself doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s been doing). He is the weakest link. Does he even deserve the spot he is playing at? What does he do?” he added.<\/p>\n

The Pakistan captain has managed just 40 runs across four matches in the ongoing Asia Cup, a return that has invited sharp criticism.<\/p>\n

Akhtar launched a blunt assessment of skipper Salman, questioning both his output with the bat and his decision-making, while drawing comparisons with proven performers like Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya.<\/p>\n

“He could be good boy but what does he produce? Does he perform like Tilak Varma or Hardik Pandya? On top of that, he takes wrong decisions that further put the team in trouble,” Akhtar said.<\/p>\n

(Get live streaming and exclusive coverage of the Asia Cup with HT’s OTT Sports 365 pack.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legendary pacer Shoaib Akhtar slammed Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha left, right, and centre after another crushing defeat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[10223,1721,70474,21236,31955,36950,34896,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-153618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-asia-cup-2025","9":"tag-cricket","10":"tag-cricket-criticism","11":"tag-pakistan-cricket-team","12":"tag-salman-agha","13":"tag-salman-ali-agha","14":"tag-shoaib-akhtar","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}