Former Pakistan opener Aamer Sohail came down heavily on the Inzamam-ul-Haq-led selection committee for picking sloggers instead of consistent finishers in the national team for the World Cup.
“The main concern for me is that our players are not playingas per demands of contemporary cricket where teams are reaching close to 350without taking too many risks and playing percentage strokes,” said Sohail, amember of Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup winning team.
“Our problem is that this selection committee which has beenaround for a while now still can’t figure out how Pakistan can score 300 plusand what we need to do that,” he said.
“The unfortunate part is that in Pakistan we look forsloggers. We think sloggers will finish the game. That is not right we need toselect and than develop players who can play percentage cricket and finish thejob at least seven out of 10 innings,” he observed.
Sohail, who has lead Pakistan in six Tests and 22 ODIs,lamented about the shoddy coordination between players, selectors and themanagement.
He noted the spike in 300+ scores in ODIs in England and howthat’s helped teams like India, England and New Zealand to do well in theformat.
The 52-year-old, who has appeared in 47 tests and 156 ODIs,pointed out that most teams now have two or three players capable of reachingstrike rates of over 100.
He added that what worried him was that there were some batsmen in the Pakistan team whose strike rate was at best run-a-ball or less.