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Thursday March 28, 2024

Pak middle order inconsistent, concedes Nadeem

“I agree that we have no consistency in the middle order which is required, says Nadeem Khan

By Aam Zeb Safi
September 26, 2022

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Director High Performance and former international cricketer Nadeem Khan on Sunday conceded that there is no “consistency” in the middle order of Pakistan cricket team and said the Board was working to create better options through domestic cricket.

“I agree that we have no consistency in the middle order which is required. We are working towards that direction and inshaAllah very soon you will see the options,” Nadeem told reporters on the sideline of the fourth T20 game between Pakistan and England here at the National Stadium.

“For the last two or three years, so many players have been tried in the middle order. Some won matches for us, but yes there is no consistency.

“It’s not right that the players are not coming up. In the past two years, middle order players have made debuts,” Nadeem said.

“Look, Shan is playing down the order. Such options are around the world. And if you see in England team there are some players who bat at No5 and No6 open for their counties. Look, we have options. Shoaib Malik is not playing in the team and others are playing. We want consistency if we are to make Pakistan’s number one team,” Nadeem said.

He said the induction of two English coaches in the domestic structure will help both players and coaches.

“We have brought in England’s experienced coaches as head coaches and we want to try them. You know when people are brought in from other countries, set-up or culture they share new ideas. It will help in the grooming of our coaches and they will learn from each other. At the end of the season we will assess how it benefited the players,” Nadeem said.

“We want to have diversity in the dressing room and bring the domestic cricket close to international. It will also play a key role in the growth of our coaches and even foreign coaches can also learn from our coaches as we also have some good coaches,” Nadeem said.

England’s former international Paul Franks, who has a load of coaching experience, will work as head coach of the Central Punjab while former England left-handed stumper Paul Nixon, having the experience of playing 19 ODIs for England, will work with Sindh.

Nadeem said that they had not yet talked to departments following the Prime Minister’s announcement regarding lifting of the ban on departmental sports.

“When we receive the notification we will decide what is to be done,” he said.

Nadeem said if cricket club alliance in Karachi has any reservations about club scrutiny it can go for appeal.

“We don’t want to abolish anything. It’s the duty of the PCB to ensure cricket is played. We made club registration very easy as we wanted maximum clubs to get registered. We brought in a well-reputed firm for scrutiny and 90 percent scrutiny has been conducted throughout Pakistan. People are very happy with this. If the cricket alliance in Karachi has any reservations it can appeal,” he said.

Nadeem said that there is a huge gap between domestic and international cricket and the Board wants to reduce that gap. “Every year salaries are being improved and facilities are being provided to the players,” he said.

He said soil has reached and pitches will be prepared at the appropriate time. “Soil has reached.

It depends on the weather as you have to put the soil at a specific time, then grass is put and pitches are prepared. It’s a natural process and when the season begins we will apply it. Australian curator Damien Hough gave us a manual for pitches.It helped us a lot and in national T20 good bounce was seen,” Nadeem said.