Afridi shushes critics but Akram still on his case

Lahore Qalandars captain Shaheen Shah Afridi pulled out the 'shush' celebrations for his critics after completing his fifty on Sunday, but that didn't stop Pakistan legend Wasim Akram from criticising the Lahore captain for promoting himself in the batting order once again in this year's Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Shaheen had been facing some criticism this season for regularly promoting himself in the batting order ahead of batters like David Wiese and Sikandar Raza.

Akram had called out Shaheen for this after he departed cheaply against Karachi Kings after coming out to bat at No.5 in a recent match.

"Shaheen scored 1 off 3, while Raza scored 22 off 16 & Wiese 24 off 9. They took the score to 177. It's not mandatory that if you are captain you have to come out to bat. Observe the situation and whether there are better players and hitters in the dugout. If Shaheen had done that maybe they would have made 190," Akram said in a TV programme.

Against Quetta Gladiators on Sunday, Shaheen again came out to bat at No.5 but this time he hit a 34-ball 55 with four sixes, his career-best score in T20s, and then celebrated by putting his finger to his lips.

Lahore, however, lost the match, which was their eighth loss of the season.

Despite the half-century, Akram took another jibe at Shaheen for promoting himself ahead of Raza and Wiese.

"Shaheen got runs. But their big two hitters Sikandar Raza [got five balls] and David Wiese didn't get a chance," said Akram.

It was also Lahore's last match in the season, who came into the tournament on the back of consecutive title wins but ended up with just one win in 10 games.