Yasir Shah made an inexperienced mistake: Akram

Pakistan’s legendary former pacer Wasim Akram believes that leg-spinner Yasir Shah made an inexperienced mistake, after his unique celebration in the first Test against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane to send off prolific batsman Steve Smith. The leg-spinner held up seven fingers for each time he had dismissed the dynamic Aussie batsman.

The legendary pacer was worried that the leg-spinner might have poked the bear which could have grave consequences in the second Test at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide.

“It was just an inexperienced mistake. I hope he hasn’t poked the bear there,” Akram told foxsports.com.au the night before the second Test. “I wouldn’t have done it. I would have done it in the fourth innings if I got him out the second time winning the Test match. But not when you’re losing badly.”

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Akram claimed that he had never worried about the number of times he had gotten a particular batsman out and instead focused on the impact of his performance on the match and the final outcome.

“You know in our times, when I played I didn’t bother with how many times I got out who. It was the last thing on our minds. Nowadays, with stats, people know everything. But I, as a bowler, (worried about) ‘am I impacting the game or not? Am I winning the game for Pakistan or vice versa?’ If not, that doesn’t matter if I’ve got him seven times,” he concluded.