Pakistan captain Babar Azam has reacted strongly to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja’s recommendation to “pick T20 players” for Tests.
In response to a query on the king’s recommendation, Babur stated on Tuesday, ‘The door shouldn’t be closed to anybody. There is a set plan for every thing and we’ve it for each format. You can not change issues in a day or every week. It takes time. It takes time to vary mindset.
Then, if we begin taking part in defensively, reporters will ask why we do not play offensively and after we begin taking part in offensively, they ask why we do not play the opposite means round. There will at all times be questions, you’ll be able to’t please everybody. Ultimately what issues is the outcome. If outcomes do not come, questions will come up it doesn’t matter what we do.
Raja, in an interview with former England captain Michael Atherton, praised England’s new strategy to Test cricket and stated that he had suggested Babar to choose T20 gamers for Test cricket like England.
“Like England for instance, I instructed to Babar that England is taking part in T20 format within the five-day version, so that you choose T20 gamers right here. This is a mindset pressured upon Pakistan, which I completely love. I need the approaching technology to see it as a T20 format like England is taking part in.
Meanwhile, Babar was overlooked with accidents to their main pacers after England accomplished their Test sequence sweep on Tuesday.
Pakistan captains Babar Azam, left, Mohammad Rizwan, centre, and Sarfaraz Ahmed, clap for teammate Azhar Ali, who performed his final match because of retirement, as they put together for the third Test cricket match between Pakistan and England Walked off the sphere on the finish of the. Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, December 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Farid Khan)
After England gained the third and ultimate Test by eight wickets and whitewashed Pakistan 3–0 within the dwelling Test sequence, Babar stated, “We were unfortunate that our main fast bowlers were not fit.” The new gamers did nicely however did not do what we needed. When issues have been in our fingers, we used to get out simply and because of this we couldn’t win the matches which we should always have gained.
Pakistan’s premier pacer Shaheen Afridi was dominated out of the sequence with a knee damage, whereas Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah additionally suffered accidents in the course of the first Test, ruling them out for the final two matches.
“Fitness plays an important role because if you are not extra fit then you cannot compete in all the three formats,” Babar stated. You get two to a few days to modify from one format to a different and you must be mentally ready as nicely.
Pakistan handed the Test cap to seamer Mohammad Ali, who took 4 wickets within the First Test, earlier than he completed wicketless within the Second Test and was dominated out of the ultimate match. Pacer Mohammad Wasim had a disappointing debut within the ultimate Test, managing just one wicket and that was when Harry Brook accomplished his third consecutive century of a memorable tour of England.
Babar stated, ‘When you do not have the spine of your bowling, it turns into troublesome for the brand new bowlers to regulate rapidly.’ The means England performed, they did not allow us to quiet down.
England scored at a combative tempo all through the sequence, beginning with a world document 506-4 on the opening day of the primary Test and ending with a better-than-run-a-ball 170-2 in Karachi on Tuesday.
Babar stated Pakistan’s energy was its batting, however in all three Tests the center order and decrease order crashed towards England’s tempo and spin.
Test debutant left-hander Saud Shakeel couldn’t convert his 4 half-centuries into huge a whole bunch and Babar additionally carried out in patches.
Pakistan got here shut twice within the first two Tests earlier than succumbing to Ben Stokes’ aggressive ways and dropping by 74 runs and 26 runs in Rawalpindi and Multan respectively.
Pakistan have simply 5 days to get well from their worst ever defeat at dwelling as New Zealand arrive this week for a two-Test sequence adopted by three ODIs. The first Test begins in Karachi from subsequent Monday, adopted by the second match in Multan from January 3 to 7. Karachi will host three ODIs between January 10-14.
– with AP enter
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
