Does Pakistan cricket team need a batting coach or a Psychiatrist?
They have failed to bat in England like the way they do at home, they have virtually committed suicide while attempting to play at a delivery bowled outside the off stump, yet the Pakistan management does not feel the team needs a batting coach. Here, one must agree to the approach of the Pakistan Cricket Board, because no batting coach in the world will be able to help the team transform into a winning unit.
What the team needs is a psychiatrist! Pakistan cricket team’s main problem is that the batsmen tend to get flashy whenever the ball is pitched on the off stump. They feel it is the bowler’s gift to them, yet it is anything but that. With more fielders behind the wicket than anywhere else on the ground, Pakistan batsmen get dismissed either caught in the slips, in the gully or simply end up at the hands of the keeper behind the wicket.
Gone are the days when Saleem Malik used to cut the bowlers for a boundary or http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 duo hit successive centuries on three tours to England, and their main strength was self belief and keen sense of observation. Had Javed Miandad and Saleem Malik been in this side, on their form of the 1992 trip to England, they would have waited for the bowlers to make mistakes, rather than lashing outside the off stump.
The sight of Javed Miandad hitting six fours off one Ian Salisbury over seems extinct, now that the English bowlers are in control, and the Pakistani batsmen out of control.
It is not for the first time that the ball is swinging in England neither is the current generation of English bowlers different from their predecessors.
The current Pakistan side lacks discipline, and it shows everywhere. Mohammad Yousuf’s recall may have irked some in the management, but it is likely that he will end both the innings as the top scorer for Pakistan in the third Test at the Oval, because he is patient, and does not lack common sense like his young team mates.
Former Pakistan skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lancashire-c806 for more than a decade felt that playing against the hosts will be a stiff test for the young Pakistan team before the series. His worst fears have come true as Pakistan failed to bat as a unit, struggling throughout the first two Tests against England.
Wasim Akram, while writing in a newspaper, rubbished the reports that Pakistan needed a batting coach. He said that at this level, Pakistan needed guidance, not coaching. "I wonder how a coach will radically change the technique needed to negotiate a moving ball in English conditions?" wrote the former skipper.
"I don’t think a batting coach will do any good," Wasim explained during his write-up. "What the boys need is mental toughness and the current team management can surely pass on a few tips."
Does any other top side in the world have an exclusive batting coach? http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 does not need to have one because four of their batsmen average over 50 in test cricket! So why does Pakistan need to have a batting coach? It is only to save the management from what is now coming out as illogical selection decisions and irresponsible captaincy appointments. Had Younis Khan stayed as skipper and the board had let go off those players who wanted him out, the Pakistan team might have gone to win more matches.
“They're going to cry and go to bed and they'll wake up crying tomorrow. They're young kids with some talent on sub-continental pitches. But they don't have the technique...they're too naive on these sort of surfaces. If they get a flat pitch they might do better but I still think England will beat them.” That’s what former English skipper Geoff Boycott had to say about the Pakistan cricket team’s pathetic batting display in England. One wonders whether the scenario will change in the third Test starting 18th August, or the English would be able to extend their lead to 3-0.
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