LAHORE - Spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmad has said that Waqar Younis is patriot Pakistani and he wanted to make Pakistan No 1 team.
Talking to Nawa-i-Waqt, Mushtaq said: “Waqar Younis who really wanted to save sinking ship of Pakistan cricket and wanted to make to the national team No 1 and best among all. Although he couldn’t succeed in doing so due to various reasons yet no one can doubt his hard work, determination and patriotism.”
Coming down hard on critics who make the criticism just for the sake of criticism not for the betterment of the team and cricket, Mushtaq said such critics were mostly unaware of the facts and figures and just criticise the team to get benefits through unfair means. “Such criticism has nothing to do with the betterment of cricket instead bring bad name to the country globally.”
He said that when the national perform well and gave best results, everyone started praising it but when it didn’t perform well, the same bunch of critics termed the same team the worst one. “Instead of criticising the team blindly, they should encourage the players which will help them play well in next series and if they continuously give bad performance, then it is their right to criticise fully.”
He said: “We must throw out fear factor from our minds and should play freely as it is the only way to perform well even against the best opponents. The more we play with free minds and without fear factor, the better results we will get.” Lauding the Test team under the dynamic leadership of Misbah ul Haq, Mushtaq said: “Our Test team has been performing very well under the captaincy of Misbah, who has been leading the green caps wisely, and I hope he will do well against England team too in the Test series.
“We have been striving to improve the team’s performance in one-day and Twenty20 internationals, however, the players have to play their part and give individual performances along with team work to get the desired results,” he added.
Mushtaq also expressed his wish to work at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). “I want to work at the NCA because I want to transfer my skills and experience to our youth and produce quality spinners for my country which may earn good name and fame for the country.”
HAFIZ IMRAN