Pakistan Coach Waqar Younis thinks "momentum is with Pakistan"
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s coach Waqar Younis is jubilant after his team’s recent performances against the Australians in the first two T20 matches in Birmingham, England. However, the jubilation is short-lived as Pakistan enters into a two match test series against Australia from next week. Despite the fact that Pakistan is undoubtedly one of the best team in T20 cricket, it has failed to impress in test cricket in the recent past. So how well will Pakistan fare in the upcoming test series against Australia? Pakistan’s last test series against Australia turned out to be a horrific tour for Pakistan. The men in green lost every single match and were completely white washed in all formats of the game.
Waqar believes that Pakistan’s victory in the T20 matches will give them an advantage as he feels that the momentum has shifted towards Pakistan. The team will go into the Australian series with a lot confidence because of their impressive performances in front of some jam-packed Pakistani supporters at Edgbaston. This rare white-wash victory for Pakistan has been warmly welcomed by cricketing pundits in Pakistan. Although both the T20 matches were closely fought, Mr. Finisher Michael Hussey failed on both occasions to repeat his heroics of the past. Umar Gul proved to be too good for Hussey as he cleaned him up in both matches. As a result, it has been proven that if there was anything that Pakistan missed in the T20 World Cup, it was Umar Gul.
Pakistan cricket has taken a dramatic turn after this victory. Just four months back, the Pakistan Cricket Board was handing heavy fines and bans to some prolific players of the team. Younis Khan and Muhammad Yousaf are still out of the national side following the inquiry committee revelations with regards to Pakistan’s tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. Pakistan delved into a severe crisis following the exclusion of some top players from their squad. Some young and fresh faces stood up to the challenge and took the entire responsibility on their shoulders by giving the Pakistani batting line a new spark. Umar Akmal has turned out to be the most promising and dependable middle order batsman of the lot.
His man-of-the-match performance against Australia in the first T20 has earned him a lot of respect from cricket experts around the world. Waqar Younis was full of praise for the young lad, calling him one of the most promising batsmen that Pakistan has found in recent times. While describing the 20-year-old cricketer, Waqar referred to young Akmal as “most promising player in the last 20 years”.
Another young gun that has earned a lot of respect in a very short span of time is Muhammad Aamer. He was the prime wicket-taker for Pakistan in both T20 matches who claimed six victims in just two matches.
Waqar Younis believes these two victories are good enough for his young team to gather enough confidence before next week test match against Australia starting at Lord’s. While praising his team’s performance, Waqar also warned Pakistan that they need to improve in departments of the game in order to surprise Australia in test cricket. He explained that the five-day game is completely different than the T20 format.
“I think these two wins are really going to help us to get into the momentum”, he said.
Waqar said, “Test matches are a different ball game fair enough, but with victory behind you it always helps. Test match cricket is a different ball game - it's a Test match so we have to really come out better than this to beat these guys. We are looking to bring more youngsters in and rebuild the whole thing again”.
Waqar said that Pakistan lost Mohammad Yousaf, Younis Khan and Misbah ul-Haq at a very critical juncture which is why the team was relying on its youngsters.
“Umar Akmal is extraordinary then we also have Mohammad Aamer. We have got a couple of other youngsters in Umar Amin and Wahab Riaz there so we are thinking of putting them in the Test matches and seeing how they come out.”
Australian captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 on the other hand expressed his disappointment with his batsman. While appreciating Pakistan’s superb bowling performances, he said that the Australian batters will have to be at their best against this bowling line-up.
Clarke said "If it's overcast in England, it generally swings all day," he added.
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