Daily Times

LAHORE: Former Pakistan cricketers Shoaib Akhtar, Ramiz Raja, Muhammad Yousuf, Rashid Latif, Waqar Younis, and Hanif Mohammad have criticised the national team’s dismal performance on Monday in the second Test against England. The hosts defeated Pakistan by a massive 330-run margin to win at Old Trafford. Akhtar said that he was very disappointed with the overall performance of the team, who were badly exposed by English players. “One saw no planning in the entire match from Pakistan’s perspective and as expected our batting was badly exposed by their bowlers,” he said. “You can also say our batting has been unmasked and exposed on a pitch which had bounce and nothing more.” The former fast-bowler added that Pakistan would find it very difficult to comeback in the series after such a demoralising defeat.

Likewise, 1992 World Cup winner Ramiz said the defeat was just a continuation of Pakistan cricket’s woes. “Our biggest problem is that our players just don’t adapt quickly enough to different conditions,” he said. “And the problem of consistency remains as usual.” However, the cricketer-turned-commentator believed that the hosts deserved the win because they were better prepared. “England just came better prepared this time because at Lord’s the conditions suited Pakistan due to low bounce. At Old Trafford they made sure there was plenty of bounce in the surface.”

Former Test batsman Yousuf also lamented the lack of quality shown by Pakistan on a batting pitch. “I expected players of the calibre of Younus Khan and Asad Shafiq to get hundreds. I just can’t fathom what Younus was trying to do, batting the way he did.” Former wicketkeeper-batsman Rashid Latif said he didn’t believe Pakistan was yet out of the series. “Two matches remain and this Pakistan team has lot of potential. At Old Trafford the batting was horrible and there was no excuse for the poor show by our batters. They need to sit down and start afresh. For senior players like Hafeez and Younus to throw away their wickets after good starts is just not acceptable at this level,” he said.

Ex-head coach Waqar said that there was no excuse for the batting shambles. “I am not saying we should have won this Test, but this is not the way to go down. The spineless batting would have given the England bowlers a lot of confidence now.” Former opener Mohsin Khan said the Pakistan team simply collapsed under pressure and the batsmen just didn’t try to dominate the bowlers. “Our batsmen just couldn’t take the pressure in this Test. At this level, for a team ranked number three you expect quality batting performances. What we saw at Old Trafford was heart breaking for cricket fans,” Mohsin added. Mohsin defended that the Pakistani batsmen were playing outside Asia after three and half years and their techniques had been affected by constantly playing on low bounce tracks in UAE.

Similarly, Pakistan legend Hanif had a word of advice for Younus, who is Pakistan’s highest Test run-getter. “At his age, he shouldn’t try to change his technique. He will find it hard to adjust himself.”