Waqar backs under-fire skipper Azhar

LAHORE: Pakistan coach Waqar Younis says that they will take full advantage of the absence of Ben Stokes from the England side in the next matches.

Waqar also backed captain Azhar Ali to regain his lost form ahead of the second Test against England.

Pakistan are eyeing a comeback in the three-match series as the second Test begins in Southampton on Thursday (today).

“Azhar is an experienced campaigner,” said Waqar in a video conference from England on Wednesday. “He knows how to tackle such situations and I am very optimistic that he will produce the goods for the team in the next match.”

Stokes is heading to New Zealand for family reasons and will miss the last two matches of the series. That robs England of their most destructive batsman, a useful bowling option, leaving Kent’s Zak Crawley, his likely replacement, with some sizeable boots to fill.

Stokes failed with the bat in Manchester last week, making zero and nine, but fast-bowling great Waqar, currently mentoring Pakistan’s next generation of quick men, said the hosts would be weakened by his departure.

“There is no doubt he is a match-winner,” said Waqar. “If he’s not around England will probably be a touch light in their middle order, so we’re going to talk about that and try to cash in on that opportunity.

“He’s the kind of batsman who takes the game away from you, single-handedly at times. But the way we bowled at him in the previous game showed we had very clear plans and executed them really well,” he said.

While talking about the series opener, Waqar said both players and the coaching staff were responsible for the poor result.

“We are extremely disappointed with the defeat in Manchester,” said Waqar. “We were the better team by some margin in most of the match but we failed at crucial junctures which cost us dearly. I believe that both players and the team management are responsible for that poor result,” he said.

About the second Test, he said: “We will make the final decision regarding the playing XI by looking at the pitch tomorrow morning.”

Pakistan’s pace attack of Mohammad Abbas, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah generated plenty of excitement in the first match, each one bringing a different set of skills.

“Naseem is very, very talented and he is still growing, his bones are growing,” Waqar said. “I don’t think he really bowled as well as we expected in the previous game, but he can really bowl well. He is young, he is inexperienced and it gets tough at times.

“All he needs to do is probably get stronger and fitter. I’m sure he has the potential to become a very good bowler.”