Waqar appeals to former cricketers to help youngsters

Pakistan’s coach Waqar Younis has appealed to former greats Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram to come forward and help young cricketers as the national team gears up for a hectic season ahead. “They are great players and any amount of time a youngster spends with them is quality time. I would love to see them come and assist us in the camps,” Waqar said.
Insisting that the next six months were important for Pakistan cricket, the former Test captain who arrived from Australia late yesterday night said: “We have a very hectic and tough schedule ahead of us for the next six months and our performances will decide where we stand in the world rankings.”
The former fast bowler had to delay his arrival by around three weeks because of domestic commitments in Sydney where he is now settled. Waqar had missed the first phase of the fast track camp, organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for fast bowlers and batsmen. The camp was supervised by former Test pacer Sarfaraz Nawaz and chief selector Mohsin Khan. Waqar also urged Pakistan to groom a young captain, worrying that age may catch up with the national squad’s current leader Misbah-ul-Haq. Pakistan developed a mini captaincy crisis after Shahid Afridi abruptly quit Test cricket on a tour of England and his replacement, Salman Butt was banned in a spot-fixing scandal.
Afridi then quit international cricket over differences with Waqar, prompting the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to select Misbah. Although he had performed well, a younger leader needed to be found, Waqar said. “Being 36-37 is not very young,” said Waqar. “He (Misbah) is very fit and has done very well as captain but age usually catches up, so we need to groom a young captain.” With Afridi refusing to return under current PCB chairman Ijaz Butt, Misbah is set to lead Pakistan in all three forms of the game on a tour of Zimbabwe next month.
Pakistan plays one Test, three one-day and two Twenty20 matches. Waqar admitted Afridi will be missed. “Every cricketer who leaves is missed, like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and then myself were missed and, of course, Afridi will also be missed but there are other youngsters who will take their place,” said Waqar. He urged former greats such as Javed Miandad to help youngsters develop.
“Whatever help can come is good because we have to take Pakistan cricket forward,” said Waqar, who admitted that the team still suffered from batting problems, especially at the top of the order. “Our problems in opening are old ones and we are trying to overcome these problems and I would urge former openers like Mohsin Khan, Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail and Mudassar Nazar to come and help the openers,” said Waqar.
Youngsters will be given a chance on the Zimbabwe tour, he added. “Hopefully some new players will develop,” said Waqar who took charge as coach last year. To a question, he said watching from the boundary was always easy but things were different inside. “I don’t think I should go into details of your question but only would like to say that it’s very easy to observe things sitting outside but when you are in things aren’t as simple, it’s all different altogether,” he added.