Mohammad Azharuddin: Imran Khan must take “bold and positive decisions” as a Prime-Minister

Former India captain and National Congress leader Mohammed Azharuddin urged Imran Khan to take “bold” decisions like the ones he took during his time as a captain of the Pakistan national cricket team.

1992 World Cup winning captain Imran Khan is poised to become the 19^th Prime-Minister of Pkaistan after his party Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) single-handedly won 115 seats out of the 272, in which election was constituted.

“The decisions he took on the cricket field were very positive, very bold and individualistic decisions as a captain. He should do that only (when he becomes the Prime-Minister),” said Azharuddin to Press Trust of India.

“But then we will have to wait and watch what will happen. Leading a country and leading a cricket team are totally two different things. So we need to see what he will do,” he added, warning Khan that leading a country was vastly different from leading a cricket team.

Also Read: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly congratulates Imran Khan on election victory

Despite victory, Khan’s PTI however failed to win the required seats needed for a majority win in the national assembly – to win by a majority a party has to win 137 out of the 272 seats – and will have to form a coalition government with another party.

Azharuddin is yet to wish the former fast bowler, who wreaked havoc with his pace and lengths during his playing days.

Indo-Pak relations

One of India’s most elegant batsman, Azharuddin believes that Imran first of all has to solve the inner conflicts in his country before looking to improve the bilateral relations with India.

“First of all, there are so many problems in his country. First he has to solve those problems. Then only he can look to solve other problems,” said the former right-hander.

Also Read: Former Pakistan cricketers look forward to Imran Khan’s regime once again

He added that the road ahead was only going to get tougher for the former Pakistan cricketer but he should persists with the “bold and positive decisions,” he usually took as a captain.

Imran Khan in his first televised speech after the elections victory had vouched for a better relation with India, saying that it was important for a better trade.

But Azharuddin, who just recently announced his interest to contest the 2019 elections, said that first the animosity and had to be reduced between both the countries.

“But, when you have so much of animosity and so much of infiltration was happening, I think it is very difficult for talks to take place. First, those things have to stop, then only India will (come forward to) talk. They have to set right so many things.”