Salman Butt reveals reason behind Azhar Ali’s poor performance in Tests

Former Pakistan opening batsman Salman Butt has revealed the actual reason behind the Pakistan cricket team’s captain Azhar Ali’s poor performance in the Tests.

Butt believes Azhar Ali’s knee injury is the actual reason behind his struggles while playing the match. During an interview Butt said,

“To be very honest, I don’t think his [Azhar] actual problem in the form. His problem is the position of his knee. When you play forward, your knee should bend but since his knee is heavily taped, he cannot do this. That’s what the English bowlers are also targeting. The bowl three or four outswingers and then bring the ball in where Azhar gets trapped in front of the stumps.”

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He went on to say that,

“Successive managements of the national team have destroyed his [Azhar] knee,” he said. “They kept asking him to run when the focus should’ve been to build the muscles around his knee like quadriceps, hamstring, and calf. But in Pakistan, people are obsessed with Yo-Yo Test. They don’t pay attention to these details.”

The left-handed batsman highlighted that Azhar will never tell about his problems publically.

“He is a good guy and I’ve known him since his early days. He will never highlight these things. I am saying all of this because he is lucky to have played 70 Tests for Pakistan despite all this mismanagement but I fear for the future of our kids.”

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However, Butt wants Azhar to come back in form and play like he always had.

“He [Azhar] will not be honest to say that there is no pressure because of his poor form”.

He concluded by saying,

“There is not a single day in international cricket, whether you are in form or out of form when you are not feeling the heat. The point is how he is going to deal with it because he is the leader of the team and he has to find a way to figure this out.”