Jalal worried by Pak bowlers’ performance

KARACHI: Pakistan’s former Test and ODI fast bowler Jalaluddin has said that Pakistan’s overall performance against England so far was satisfactory but the bowling performance was not up to the mark.

Talking to ‘The News’ on Tuesday, Jalal said that it was surprising that before the series it was believed that Pakistan’s bowling was strong and that the batsmen would struggle on English wickets. “But amazingly the bowlers have failed to trouble the English batsmen,” he added.

He said that the English wickets were easy for the batsmen to score big. “That is going against our bowlers,” he added. “Now that it has become clear that Muhammad Amir would not be part of our bowling squad in World Cup, the team management should focus on the available bowlers. There is lack of variety in our bowling. Pakistan have two more ODIs against England and two practice matches before the World Cup. We have time to improve the bowlers’ confidence,” he added.

“Shaheen Afridi, Junaid Khan, Hasan Ali, Hasnain, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf are the main options. We also have the services of Shoaib Malik,” he added.

Jalal said that the bowling coach should work on the bowlers’ variations. “The bowlers are not performing according to their potential which is worrying keeping in mind the preparation for the World Cup,” he said. “The fast bowlers should be encouraged to use all variations such as slower ones, yorkers, and bouncers. These make a bowler successful,” said Jalal, who recorded the first-ever hat-trick in ODI cricket.

He said that the team management was over confident about the bowling line up due to which weaknesses had been seen during the matches so far. He appreciated the performance of batting line and said that they had proved all the doubts wrong about them. “Imam, Fakar, Asif and Babar played well. They seem to have learnt how to play in the English conditions,” said the former fast bowler.

He added that PCB’s decision to send the team to England early was a good one. “It is now up to the team management to work with those players, especially bowlers, who are struggling,” he said.

He said he was surprised by the omission of Muhammad Hafeez. “If he has got his fitness why is he not being played! When will they give him chance to prove his form and fitness for the World Cup?” he added. “Shadab, Hafeez and Malik are our main players and they have not played so far,” he said.