Sharjeel Khan needs to put away his ego: Aamer Sohail

Former Pakistan cricketer Aamer Sohail has advised left-handed opener Sharjeel Khan to put his ego away and become a team player.

Sohail, in his blog for PakPassion.net, said that aggressive batsman needs to show more game awareness and play according to the situation.

“In terms of his performance in PSL, I feel that he blew hot and cold and quite clearly, you cannot relate consistency with Sharjeel, and I suppose we have to accept that this is the way he plays his cricket,” Sohail said. “But what we do need to do, is to tell Sharjeel what is expected of him, which is not simply to try and hit every ball out of the park. He needs to put his ego away and think about what the team requires of him. If he can do all that then there is no issue in him being considered for recall to the Pakistan side.”

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Former opener was impressed with Haider Ali’s performance in PSL but wants the rookie batsman to do the hard yards in domestic cricket in order to improve his game.

“There is not much doubt about the fact that Haider Ali is very talented, but I feel that he needs to play more First-Class cricket to improve further,” he said. “He was fortunate to have been selected for the PSL where there may well have been better batsman than him in Pakistan’s domestic cricket. But now that he has had that chance, he needs to go back to the drawing board, work on the technical and attitude side of his game and if he can improve that further then he can become an asset for Pakistan cricket.”

The 53-year-old also expressed his concern about the bowling actions of young pacers Naseem Shah and Mohammad Hasnain, which he believes are hampering their progress.

“I am worried about Naseem Shah as I have seen him struggling during the PSL and I will emphasise again, as I have done before, that he has a major problem with his bowling action which puts a lot of stress on his body, and this needs to be sorted out as soon as possible,” he said. “Mohammad Hasnain is another bowler whose form is of concern to me. He has been part of the Pakistan side for almost a year now but the quality of his bowling instead of improving has gone downhill and to be honest, it’s a more of a case of getting from bad to worse.”

“With both Hasnain and Naseem, it’s not just about being satisfied with generating pace, but what they need to become are well-rounded bowlers who are consistent in their performances. For me, both bowlers have some issues with their delivery strides and unless these problems are fixed, their progress will be hampered,” he added.