Pakistan’s preparations for New Zealand tour and 2011 World Cup in full swing
On Wednesday, Pakistan began its week-long training camp in Lahore, aimed at enhancing the performance and fitness level of national team players before their upcoming tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754.
However, this camp also has another objective: figuring out a winning combination for the 2011 World Cup, which is just 71 days away.
The camp entered the limelight when Pakistani cricketing legend http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Javed-Miandad-c66580 was asked to work with the players as a batting consultant during the training. Miandad didn’t waste any time and joined the camp on its first day.
The former batsman delivered some lectures on batting techniques and then helped the players practice in the nets, displaying all the enthusiasm of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Young-c41367 player taking the field for the first time.
He spent extra time working on skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482, trying to improve his defence along with other weaknesses. Afridi has already played under Miandad’s coaching before, back when Miandad was the national team coach, so he was
quite familiar with the batting consultant’s style. In fact, most of the senior players in current the squad have all played under Miandad’s coaching when they were still new in the world of cricket. It is the younger players to whom this camp and Miandad’s
involvement present the greater opportunity.
Head coach Waqar Younis and team manager Intikhab Alam were also present during the training session. Intikhab was particularly happy with the inclusion of Miandad in the training camp, saying, “It’s a great chance for the youngsters
to get useful training from Miandad in this final phase of our training for the World Cup, and I am confident that first in New Zealand and then in the World Cup this team will achieve the best results.”
Miandad’s appointment had earlier created a bit of a rift between him and Younis, after Younis laid certain ground rules for Miandad to follow, including not interfering in team planning. Miandad was upset about having to report
to Younis despite being a more senior player. The situation was defused by the intervention of the Chairman of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128, who met Miandad and convinced him to put his differences with Younis aside for the good of the team.
Pakistan will play three T20s, two Tests and six ODIs in their tour of New Zealand, which starts on December 26. This is going to be a long and tough tour for Pakistan, scheduled right before the World Cup. But such a competitive
series will provide the Pakistanis with the chance to brush up their game ahead of the World Cup, which begins on February 19.
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