ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas has lashed out at pathetic performance of green caps against India and wants the team to play aggressive cricket against South Africa.
Talking to The Nation, Zaheer said: “Modern day cricket is far different from we have been playing since now. One can’t expect over-the-moon results by committing childish mistakes all the time. Now Pakistan team has foreign coaches for a very long time, even then the players have been making silly mistakes. Nothing has changed, how on earth one could even think about winning, having wasted so many precious deliveries.”
He said Pakistan team was worst in bowling and pathetic in fielding, as they dropped childish catches. They were nowhere when it came to bat and overall, they committed too many blunders in all departments of the game. “The key bowlers limped off the field, and it was witnessed in the past too, whenever Pakistan team went on foreign tour earlier then the schedule, half of the team was injured. It is very important to focus on fitness. There was no planning witnessed in the entire match,” he added.
About Sarfraz, Zaheer said: “I am the biggest support of skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, but I am surprised to see the captaincy of Sarfraz, which was toal failure. He failed to handle the pressure, never looked like a leader and let the things slip out of his hands.”
He said the Indians batted very sensibly, never played a single loose stroke, kept on rotating the strike and went on rampage in the later part of the innings. “Sarfraz made their work easier by opting to bowl the last over through spinner Immad Wasim. It showed Sarfraz was highly confused and simply forgot that Indians were well-known to bat well against the spinners. The way Pakistani batsmen consumed too many dot deliveries without rotating the strike, the result was not hard to judge.
“The Indians batsmen never took risk and just pasted their innings, while on the other hand, Pakistani batsmen just wanted to hit every ball out of the park. One must understand, you can’t play modern day cricket on such lines, as it is the job of team management to tell the players about the importance of rotating the strike. In one-day internationals, every team have been scoring 300 plus runs, which is more than enough to put any opposition under pressure,” he added.
“The way Pakistani batsmen came out and played dot deliveries clearly indicated that they didn’t prepare to get out of their shells and never apply modern day techniques. If they continue to play like this, there is every possibility, Pakistan team bad run will continue and they have to play qualifying round matches to be able to earn the right to play in mega events. When the players will learn and when the coaches, who have been taking millions in monthly salaries, will do their duty and remove the flaws of our players,” he added.
The cricket legend said the team management had to be very careful while selecting players and keep a very close eye upon their fitness levels. “In almost every tour, one or two players are found injured. First Umar Akmal was sent back prior to start of the Champions Trophy and now both key fast bowlers Wahab Riaz and M Aamir also sustained injuries. The players never bother to pay heed towards achieving fitness levels and it continues to haunt Pakistan cricket. This will continue to happen unless proper heed is not paid to that particular area.”
“After losing first match, Pakistan chances of making it to the semi-finals look highly grim. Now they can’t even afford to think about losing further ground. South Africa is a complete package and they will play modern day cricket. I hope the team management may be able to control and green caps will try to deliver. Pakistan team has to come out all guns blazing and play aggressive cricket to stand realistic chances of progressing further,” Zaheer concluded.