Earlier this week, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar stirred controversy when he claimed that the side's current captain, Babar Azam, is not a brand in the country because he can't speak the English language properly. Akhtar went on question the character in the national team, criticising the communication skills among the players.
"You can see there's no character in the team, nor do they know how to talk. How awkward it looks when they come to the presentation. How difficult is it to learn and speak English? Cricket is one job, and handling media is another. If you can’t speak, I am sorry, but you won’t be able to express yourself on TV," Akhtar told Suno News.
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The former pacer's comments went viral soon after his interview, and Salman Butt, Pakistan's former captain, hit back at Akhtar for his remarks. Butt rallied behind Babar Azam and stated that the focus should be on his cricketing skills and not the communication issues.
“He is a great player. And for a cricketer, only his cricketing skills give him fame. Yes, the fluency in communication and being an articulate speaker adds to your charisma. But this is not a defect. If you're not an expert in communication, if you're not a natural, it's not a defect,” Butt said on his official YouTube channel as he replied to Akhtar's criticism.
{{/usCountry}}“He is a great player. And for a cricketer, only his cricketing skills give him fame. Yes, the fluency in communication and being an articulate speaker adds to your charisma. But this is not a defect. If you're not an expert in communication, if you're not a natural, it's not a defect,” Butt said on his official YouTube channel as he replied to Akhtar's criticism.
{{/usCountry}}“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,” said Butt.
The former left-handed batter stated that Babar doesn't need to read news or do voiceovers, and there's no compulsion on him to learn the 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). Babar is himself a brand. He's world no.1 consistently; tell me, how many Pakistan players have done that in last 3-4 decades? The least we can do is to give him the credit he's due. There's no one better than him,” said Butt.
“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,” he further said.