Pakistan should not lose the focus they grabbed during their recent tour of New Zealand and the senior players deserve praise for that. The think tank of Pakistan, which includes coach Waqar Younis, captain Shahid Afridi and vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq should be admired for bringing the team together as one unit.
I think Waqar, Afridi and Misbah have all together done a great job. The team has faced a lot of flak in the last six-eight months and now it has surely emerged from the worrying days. Although Pakistan managed to win the One Day International and Test series against New Zealand recently, the team should not lose focus and any team shouldn’t be taken lightly at all.
In the match between the Netherlands and England, which turned out to be an exciting encounter, the minnows has showed that they shouldn’t be under estimated. The match against Kenya has given Pakistan a positive start and would now be determined to stay positive. Pakistan are expected to have senior like Younis Khan and Misbah perform well while it was unfortunate to see Shoaib Akhtar miss some close calls.
I hope Akhtar would be used sensibly by the Pakistan captain in the matches to come. There were some mixed performances from the players in the warm-up games. The team won their first match against Bangladesh, but looked somewhat vulnerable against England and now they have shown that they are on the right track.
Pakistan experimented a lot in their game against England, which may have been the reason for their loss. They should now be eyeing a consistent run in their pool matches though. My services to help groom two Pakistan pacers – Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz is available during the World Cup.
I am available to help Wahab and Junaid whenever they want me because I have a lot of spare time on hand in Sri Lanka. So far I have not seen rookie pacer Junaid bowling but heard good things about him from the coach and captain. I love working with the younger bowlers especially if they are left armers. I would love to help the Pakistan team in this World Cup by working with Wahab and Junaid.
It was a wrong impression that while I had time to help out Indian bowlers, Irfan Khan and Zaheer Khan, I didn’t give time to the Pakistani youngsters. It is totally wrong impression because I conducted a fast bowling camp two years back for the Pakistan board and Muhammad Amir was among the trainees in that camp. When I have time I have no issues helping out our players and passing them on some of my own experiences.
I don’t think that reverse swing would be of any effective in this World Cup. The ball is changed after 34 overs and between the 40th and 50th overs I think bowlers must now depend a lot on slow yorkers, bouncers and variation in length. You must keep the batsmen thinking all the time. The good thing is that Pakistan have quality spinners, all-rounders as well as good pace bowlers in this ICC CWC.
I expected Shoaib to fire in the showpiece event despite reports of him not being fully fit doing the rounds. I think Shoaib will do something because even he knows this is the swansong for him on such a major platform. I think he himself is eager to deliver for the team and if he is used properly in short spells he can be a match winner for the team.
