Happy to play under Hafeez's captaincy in KPL: Sohail Akhtar

Right-hand batman Sohail Akhtar is happy to play under the captaincy of his Lahore Qalandars’ teammate and veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez for Muzaffarabad Tigers in the upcoming edition of Kashmir Premier League (KPL).

While speaking to Cricket Pakistan, the right-hand batsman heaped praised on Hafeez for being a supportive colleague.

“Hafeez bhai is a great player. He always supports me on and off the field. We get to learn from his experience and I am lucky that I will be playing in the same team with him in KPL,” he said.

Akhtar believes his KPL team has assembled a balanced squad for the tournament.

“As a professional, you have to keep yourself fit the whole year, so I am doing training two times a day, so that I regain my form ahead of KPL,” Sohail said.

 “We have an experienced side. Even the youngsters are very talented. Management has picked a balanced squad. Hopefully, our team will perform well in first edition,” he added.

The 35-year-old is excited to play in Muzaffarabad for the first time and is keen to perform in front of the local crowd.

“I have never played in Muzaffarabad. It was my wish to play there as the crowd over there is very enthusiastic and they enjoy cricket. So I am excited to play there in KPL. The crowd will get to see their local cricket stars in action,” he said.

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Lahore Qalandars captain also backed his premier fast-bowlers, Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf, to perform well in future matches for Pakistan and advised them to continue with being aggressive on the field.

“Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf are Pakistan assets. They are very hardworking. The more they are criticized, the harder they work and improve their skills. During recent T20Is against England, they bowled and fielded well despite facing criticism, which shows their self-belief,” he said.

“If fast-bowler doesn’t have aggression, then he isn’t a fast-bowler in my book. Aaqib Javed and I have always instructed them to bowl with aggression. If you pass a smile to batsman after bowling fast, he will get relaxed. So it is a good thing for fast-bowlers to be aggressive,” he added.