Former Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar has called his country's elimination from the Asia Cup 2023 ‘embarrassing’, and he has urged the squad, and especially skipper Babar Azam, to get their act together and sharpen captaincy in preparation for the ODI World Cup.

The former Pakistani cricketer stated on his YouTube channel that Pakistan deserved to win the Asia Cup final despite being eliminated from the tournament. As the 'favorites,' they are susceptible to significant criticism.

“Pakistan deserved to win go to the Asia Cup final but they are out of the tournament. They can be criticised a lot as they were touted as the 'favourites' but are out of the tournament now. Unfortunately, there can't be a Pakistan vs India match in the final, it has never happened. This was the chance but Sri Lanka deserved to be the finalists. They were the far better team,” he said.

Shoaib Akhtar responded to Pakistan's early elimination and said that he thinks Babar Azam's captaincy has to be "sharpened" before the ODI World Cup, which starts in India at the beginning of next month.

"You've seen the match. Pakistan are out of the tournament. The match that was made in favour of Pakistan, was all done by Zaman Khan. He landed the day before yesterday and this boy did excellent bowling in the Pakistan Super League. Whatever chances Pakistan had of winning the match were all because of him. Shaheen Afridi also got a few wickets but credit goes to Zaman. He bowled really well," Akhtar added.