LAHORE-Pakistan batting coach Younis Khan has said there is a dire need to put a new life in the top order as it will help the team produce better results.
“The top order’s performance has greater ‘significance’ for the team, as if it performs well, the entire side (batsmen and bowlers) feels less pressure and tries to produce better results. Prior to coming South Africa and Zimbabwe tours, we will fully work on our top order batsmen and help them improve their skills and games, so that they may give consistent performances against the best in the business,” said the batting coach during the virtual media talk on Wednesday.
When this scribe asked Younis what is the main reason behind inconsistency of our players especially batsmen, the former captain replied: “We need to make our batsmen good finishers. We badly lack in this particular area, where a lot of work needed to be done. When a player starts finishing his innings on a winning note, it not only boosts his morale but also makes him more sensible and improves his individual performance, which ultimately benefits the team. So the more good finishers we have, the better and consistent our performances will be.”
Replying to query regarding the absence of Muhammad Hafeez, Younis said: “We all will miss Muhammad Hafeez, who is a very good batsmen. During the South Africa T20Is, we will surely miss him. It’s all about following rules and regulations and nothing more can be said about it. Hafeez is very a good player and at the peak of his game, if he bids farewell to cricket, it would be good to see him as coach.”
About Faheem Ashraf, the batting coach said: “I won’t take credit of Faheem’s successful knocks. I just told him about the best all-rounders of Pakistan cricket, that include Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Moeen Khan and Rashid Latif, who served the country and team in great style. He responded well to my advice, which helped him emerge as top all-rounder. If he continues working hard, he has a very bright future ahead.”
Younis expressed the hope that the team would continue the winning momentum in the T20I series against South Africa. “The South Africa Test series win has boosted our morale and built the confidence of our players, which will surely help us do well in the T20I series too. We will try to continue that winning momentum and also try to improve our T20I rankings ahead of coming T20 World Cup.”
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