LAHORE - Pakistan cricket team head coach Waqar Younis Tuesday said he had returned for his second coaching stint with a positive frame of mind and wanted to bring more aggression to the squad ahead of the next year’s World Cup.
Younis led the team to the semifinals of the 2010 World Twenty20 and 2011 World Cup before resigning in August 2011 for personal reasons, though differences with the players also reportedly played a role in his departure.
Talking to the reporters here at the Gaddafi Stadium, Waqar said that he would be aiming short and long term targets to build the team to produce desired results in home series and the World Cup. "I have the options of short and long term targets with me to groom the team for our home series at neutral venue and the next year's world cup and I will be preparing the team to go into the field with a attacking strategy rather adopting defensive tactics.”
Waqar said he has enlisted Pakistan's home series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia in short term targets while long term targets include series against India and preparations for the World Cup. "I will be preparing the team with a positive mind to come up to the expectations of the PCB and the national and to achieve the set targets,” he said.
He added that the top most priority would be to infuse a higher level of confidence in the players to take on every match with an aggressive and attacking approach and should not rely on defensive approach. "Our team is a combination of versatile talent with players having the potential to outshine any opposition,” he said.
The former captain was of the view that with proper training and coaching significant changes can be made in the team which is showing improvement with each passing day. Waqar stressed the need to maintain consistency saying he would do his best to overcome the gray areas of the team helping the players to learn from their mistakes and to perform better.
"We should learn from the mistakes of our past and make collective efforts to lift the performance level of the team which is only possible when all the players duly justify in their respective jobs and roles,” said the head coach.
He said whole sale changes cannot be made in the team at one go and presence of experienced players is very essential to overcome the pressure while playing top notch sides. "We will try to gel experience with youth as we start preparing our team for the World Cup as the wickets will be bouncy in Australia and we need a combination capable of sustaining pressure on such tracks.” “Prior to the world cup our home series will help us in knowing our strength and we will be taking steps to further boost up the performance of the team,” he added.
The former captain said it was imperative for the team to have a coach to guide the players and for him the coach is like the father of the team to look into every aspect related to the team and to pay attention to every individual player in the need of time. He said he is upbeat knowing the presence of some new talented players in the team and keeping in view the talent of the players he would be able to draw the batting combination of the team in coming months.
Replaying to a query, Waqar said he laid special emphasis on fitness and fielding which, according to him, were the major factors for attaining success.