Pakistan cricket team’s Assistant Coach Azhar Mehmood said on Tuesday that the team’s fast bowlers were performing individually and they were not playing like one unit. Speaking to the media in Wellington, he said one day a fast bowler bowled well while the other one failed to show the same performance. “We have got to understand that bowling is also like batting where we develop partnerships.

It will be better if all our three pacers perform equally well on the same day.”  Azhar said it would be the team’s effort to finish the T20 International series against New Zealand on a positive note by winning the last match. “Our team consists of young players,” he said, adding, “Our job is to support them.” The assistant coach said that in modern day cricket, putting 160 runs on the scoreboard was nothing.

“Either you score 180 runs or more than 200 so that you could stand a chance to win the match.”    Azhar went on to say that when the team had arrived in New Zealand, it was confronted with different challenges. “Batsmen were not familiar with the pace and the bounce one often sees in New Zealand. This time, there is more bounce in these wickets than it used to be in the past,” he said, adding, “We have told batsmen that they don’t have to be aggressive, but have to play against fast bowlers with patience and sensibly.”

 The assistant coach also hinted at making one or two changes to the team for the fifth and last T-20I to be played in Wellington tomorrow. The national team practiced at the Basin Reserve cricket ground in Wellington on Tuesday as it prepares to face Kiwis in the fifth and last T20I.  Besides batting, bowling and fielding, the players also participated in warmup drills. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)