Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed rued his batsmen’s lack of planning during the semi-final against New Zealand which saw his team’s shock ouster from the ICC Champions Trophy but still predicted a bright future for the team in presence of some talented players in the ranks.
Speaking exclusively to Dawn following the five-wicket loss at The Wanderers that sealed Pakistan’s exit, Yawar, who confirmed it was his last tour with the team, was also shocked by some of the on-field decisions but refused to comment owing to strict ICC regulations.
“I shouldn’t be saying this but we should’ve planned this match slightly better,” Saeed said. “It’s not my job, it’s the coach’s but batting first, we should’ve made at least 260 or 270. We got bogged down in the middle and were lucky with the tail-enders who got us to the score that we managed. In this sort of game, you need to plan your scoring rate every ten overs. We failed and we went down.
“There are a few other things that also affected the match but I’m not allowed to comment on those. Everybody saw how things went along. Overall, it was very disappointing for me and the team as we didn’t make it to the final, something that we should’ve.”
Yawar, who has been involved in the team’s managerial role on-and-off for the last 26 years, predicted a bright future for the team, having witnessed the younger members outshine their senior team-mates.
Reserving special praise for Umar Akmal, who top-scored for Pakistan in the semi-final with a 62-ball 55, and Mohammad Aamir, with six wickets in three Champions Trophy matches, Yawar also lauded the team spirit and confidence, especially as Pakistan came into the tournament having lost the Test and ODI series against Sri Lanka.
“The Sri Lanka tour was poor for us since we lost matches we should’ve won. However, we made a strong start in South Africa and after we beat India, coupled with the elimination of South Africa and Sri Lanka, we thought we had a very good chance.
“Apart from the low score, we dropped a few catches and that’s the beauty of the game, you take an eye off it and you lose. It was satisfying in the sense that Pakistan doesn’t feature in semi-finals of ICC tournaments frequently so to do that in back-to-back tournaments is praiseworthy.
“We also had wonderful performances from the youngsters, especially Umar and Aamir. We currently have an under-19 team playing in Zimbabwe and I know that there are three to four players in that squad who can walk into the national side during the next six months.
“This is good for Pakistan cricket as well as our squad as it provides competition to both seniors and younger members. And it was because of the healthy competition that when we sat down to select playing elevens, for the first time ever we thought about who to drop and not who to play.
“With the World Cup under two years away, I hope the selectors take note of the youngsters and give them enough run in the senior squad for them to be able to perform in the tournament when it arrives.”
Yawar also confirmed he was leaving the manager’s post in the team with Shafqat Rana, the Associate Manager, widely tipped to take over for the series against New Zealand.
© Faras Ghani 2009.
Published in DAWN newspaper, Oct 7, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment