No groupings in team, players are not good enough: Azhar Mahmood

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan team s bowling coach Azhar Mahmood has dismissed all speculations about groupings in the team, saying there were no issues amongst the players during Asia Cup and World Twenty20.

“The simple fact is that our players are not good enough at the moment”, he said in comments on a website.

He said he had recommended the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to hire a sports psychologist in order to get the players mindset and thinking in a positive direction.

Azhar said he had made some points in a report he submitted to the PCB. One of the points was that the PCB needs to hire a sports psychologist to get the players mindset right and get their thinking to be a lot more positive, Pakpassion net quoted him as saying.

He said there is too much negativity in the Pakistan dressing room and that needs to be eradicated.

“The needs to be more self belief amongst our cricketers and that is missing at the moment”.

The players need to believe more in them and that they can win from any situation which is lacking these days, he said.

Azhar said there also needs to be more dedication and hard work from the current crop of Pakistani cricketers as that is also missing.

“Another point I have made to the PCB is to hire a better quality of domestic coach. We need people who can improve the game awareness of our cricketers at domestic level and also improve our cricketers fitness and make them more aware of nutrition, he said.

Azhar said but a real concern was that some players are playing for themselves and not for the team.

At the moment, our cricketers are not setting themselves challenging goals and remain in a comfort zone which is hampering their performance, he said.

Azhar said the captain and coach should be in the selection committee in all formats.

“You simply cannot have a situation where players are picked for a squad and the coach or captain has no say in it,” he said.