Babar Azam was Pakistan’s leading run-scorer in their ODI series against Australia.

Akhtar named the senior players who he felt will go into the tri-series with pressure to perform and save their ODI career.

“There is an unseen pressure on the senior players. That maybe this might be our last series. Let me be completely frank—Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Shadab Khan too. Especially Babar Azam as well. The pressure of what if this ends up being our last series? They shouldn’t have this pressure on them. That’s wrong. If we send Babar in with the mindset that ‘deliver, and if you don’t, then thank you very much,’ that’s a bit unfair. Don’t do that. Now, whatever he’s like, however he plays, manage him—because you don’t have a better player than him anyway. He’s not to my liking, but whatever we have, just enjoy it and might as well get the best use out of it,” Akhtar added.

Akhtar’s comments came on a day when Pakistan cricket team’s Fakhar Zaman admitted that there is ‘pressure’ on them to deliver an ICC trophy.

“There is pressure on us as a team to deliver an ICC trophy, and we have had extensive discussions about ending the country’s wait for a major international trophy,” Fakhar was quoted as saying by Press Trust of India.

There are rumours in Pakistan media that the Pakistan board might offer Akhtar a role in the team management. While not talking about that, he seemed to give a bit of detail about the thought process of the PCB management.

“Let me tell you a bit of detail on this point. They are emphasising that if these players don’t deliver, then we might as well look the other way. Simple. And the message is very clear: if he (Shaheen) does not bowl 10 overs with the full intensity that we require from you, then thank you very much. It can’t be that you bowl four overs, and your second or fourth over isn’t fast. I am all for Shaheen, I am giving a suggestion: make sure that you don’t hit the pedal right from the word go. You pace it up. All our fastest bowlers, or Pakistan fast bowlers from the past, we used to pace it up. A bit stronger in the second spell, and then very strong in the last one. So first, get the rhythm right, get the feeling right, get the environment right, how the grass feels under your feet, how are we running in, whether you feel the wind or not, what the batsman is doing? The thing is, it’s all about the intention that you had as a fast bowler in your profession. But again, they are very, very, very strict about one thing. PCB won’t budge anymore on deliverables. Deliver on this, and only then move forward on a ‘play as you deliver’ basis,” Akhtar warned.