Former Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal has urged Naseem Shah to put the social media controversy behind him and warned that his pace has dropped alarmingly, saying the Pakistan Cricket Board had done the young fast bowler a significant favour by stopping short of a ban.
Naseem was fined 20 million Pakistani rupees — roughly eight months’ salary — by the PCB after reportedly posting sarcastic tweets directed at Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, who was the chief guest at the PSL opening match at Gaddafi Stadium. The PCB found him guilty of multiple breaches of his central contract despite an unconditional apology
“The members of this committee and the chairman have saved his career,” Akmal said on the YouTube show Gameplan. “If he was banned, his career would have been ruined.”
But Akmal reserved his sharper concern for Naseem’s cricket. “Where has the pace gone? He started at 145, 150 — now it’s 135, 137. What was the diet plan? What did you do?”