Naushad flays seniors over pathetic batting

ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan batting line up stoop to new low in the third one-dayer, former manager and chief selector Col (rtd) Naushad Ali believed that top-order has not been able to cope with the demands of playing surfaces in New Zealand.

Talking to ‘The News’ Saturday after greenshirts conceded the five-match one-day series 0-3, former Test cricketer said that controlling rising and seaming deliveries seemed to be a difficult task for leading batsmen. “It was never a good sight to see Pakistan getting reduced to 16 for 6 and then 32 for 8 while chasing a reachable target. Such a pathetic scorecard clearly shows that top-order batting line up has never been able to meet the demands of the tracks usually every team finds in New Zealand and Australia. The pitch at Dunedin was never an unplayable one, rather to New Zealand standard it was a friendlier track. Yet Pakistan batsmen were unable to get into terms with the situation, mainly because they were never ready for such eventuality.

“I am at loss to understand why senior batsmen like Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali and Shoaib Malik are not showing resilience at a time when they had been in New Zealand many times before. So to say that such players including Sarfraz Ahmad never realized what they would be up to and lacked true professional approach.”

Naushad who managed the national team during 1992 December series played in New Zealand said that gone were the days when Pakistan used to beat Kiwis at their home fair and square. “I remember in that series we beat New Zealand 3-1 in the one-day series and 1-0 in Test series. New Zealand were having a very good team even at that time.”Naushad remembered arranging the ten-day camp in Auckland before officially starting the tour. “We organized camp prior to start of the series in New Zealand on all expenses paid by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Before embarking on the tour we were in a position to realize on the requirements coming ahead of us. There we were also having the facilities of drop in pitches. So after getting over ten days training on these pitches, we knew well what we need to do for positive results.”

Naushad was unhappy with the separate tours PCB arranged these days. “I think the tour should be a full-fledged where the team is bound to play Test matches, one-dayers and T20 matches. By separating limited overs and Test series, we actually are minimizing our chances of winning. By the time, players attains a position to get acclamatise to the condition, the tour gets over. So 15 days tour makes no sense. This type of tours arrangements should not be repeated again.”

Naushad who also officiated matches as match referee in New Zealand backed Yasir Shah’s selection even for one-dayers. “You should play to your strength and Pakistan strength is leg spin against teams like New Zealand. There is no harm in playing even two spinners.”