Sharjeel, Fakhar should open, says Rauf

KARACHI: Former fast bowler Abdul Rauf has said that Pakistan should play the genuine openers Sharjeel Khan and Fakhar Zaman against the West Indies.

The management should try to improve their performance by giving them confidence, he said while talking to 'The News'.

"The team is depending on only two batsmen, Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan, which is not a good sign for the team," he said.

Rauf said that it was wrong to send Babar and Rizwan to open the innings. "Whenever either of the two fails, the entire batting line is mentally shattered," he added.

He said Pakistan could do well against the West Indies only if the batting line up survived the attack by the West Indian bowlers. Otherwise, Pakistan would struggle as they did in England, he said

He said that West Indies team was great at T20 cricket. "They are not as strong as they were in the past though. But they have the advantage of home soil. They defeated Australia and Sri Lanka recently. Their confidence level is much higher than Pakistan," he said.

Rauf said that Pakistan had failed to produce any young talented cricketer. "A number of players are playing on the basis of personal liking and disliking of the team management. We haven't produced any young cricketers during the last three years to replace the old players. Thus, we have had to retain players like Muhammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, and Wahab Riaz who are now past their prime," he said.

He said these old players were able to support the team in a limited way. "They cannot win matches now. Hafeez has been struggling in batting and Malik is also an average performer. So anyone can guess the position of Pakistan in the coming months," said the former fast bowler.