Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan pacer and head coach of Lahore Qalandars Aaqib Javed said Tuesday that Pakistan cricket team can still make a comeback and win the title of Asia Cup if they play their natural game in the remaining matches. Talking to media, the member of Pakistan’s victorious squad of World Cup 1992 said that team took unnecessary pressure in two games against India. “Pakistan and India games are always of pressure, but it seems that Pakistan cricketers took too much pressure of it and couldn’t deliver in these two matches against arch rivals,” he said.

“What I have seen is that players aren’t playing against their natural styles. Fakhar Zaman is a flamboyant aggressive batsman but he is trying to play steady knock while Imam who is known for steady batting was trying to play shots like Fakhar,” the former fast bowler said. He, however, said that it was still not over for Pakistan and team can make a strong comeback.

“We have to make a comeback and I am sure we will,” Javed said, adding that the game against Bangladesh would be an encounter of two teams with poor form. “Pakistan will have to prove that their form is still not that poor,” he said. While expressing disappointment at Muhammad Amir’s form, Aaqib said that its management’s duty to keep his confidence high. “To drop him after one match will only dent his confidence. Pakistan must play him in remaining two matches,” he said. “Our team have already been bashed by fans, but it is high time for skipper Sarfraz Ahmed and co to forget everything and show in the ground of what they’re capable of,” he maintained.

Published in Daily Times, September 26^th 2018.