Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt slammed ex-teammate Shoaib Akhtar for criticising Babar Azam's communication skills. During a recent appearance on a local news channel, Akhtar had claimed that Babar isn't a big brand because he can't speak English, and also pointed out the shortcomings of the Pakistan players. However, Butt refuted to the claims made by Akhtar, saying that the focus should be on honing his cricketing abilities, instead of communication skills. He also urged Akhtar not to target a player publicly on live television.
"The very fact that we are talking about him proves that he's a brand. You only talk about the person who is relevant. He will learn with time. There are so many players in Pakistan who learnt the language when they lived abroad. I don't know why he (Akhtar) needed to say things like that. We should support him. You don't need to talk about these things on public platform. If you really want to see him improve, you should call him, meet him, and tell him in private," Butt said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.
Butt also stated that since Babar doesn't have to read news or do voiceovers, there's shouldn't be any complusion on him to learn a secondary language.
"He (Babar) is a sensible person. If he doesn't have a command on a secondary language, there is nothing bad about it. Many athletes speak in their mother tongue intentionally when they are at the top of the podium, and ask the translator to convey the message. We should feel proud that we have ownership on our language. Yes, there is nothing bad in knowing another language. But Babar ko naa toh kisi draamey ka voiceover karna hai, naa hi TV pe khabrein padhni hain. (But neither does Babar have to give a voiceover for a drama series, nor does he have to read news on television)," he added.
Babar is currently leading Peshawar Zalmi in the ongoing Pakistan Super League.
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