LONDON/LAHORE: Following Pakistan’s poor showing and disappointing batting performance on the tour of England, head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed has said he will not place the blame on the players during a difficult period, and that decisions on who is to be dropped will be taken after the series.
Speaking at a press conference at the close of play on the second day of the Lord’s Test, Sarfaraz Ahmed said the players had performed badly, but that this did not in any way mean he would place the entire blame on them.
Sarfaraz Ahmed said this is the national team and Pakistan’s best players are part of it. Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel and Salman Ali Agha have all performed in the past, he said, but are not scoring runs at present — and as head coach, he stands with them. After the series, he said, the management will sit down, hold discussions and then decide who is to be retained and who is to be dropped.
He said the team’s problem is that when the batting performs, the bowling falls away. He acknowledged that there are problems in the batting, adding that these are all good boys who are working very hard, and that it is unfortunate the results are not going in Pakistan’s favour. But it must be accepted, he said, that the Pakistan cricket team is a professional side.
The head coach said that if Pakistan is to maintain its standing at the international level in line with global standards, the players will have to perform, will have to go back and play first-class cricket, and will have to work on their weaknesses. That, he said, is essential.
He added that as far as the team’s performance is concerned, he accepts full responsibility as head coach and will not hold anyone else to blame.
The reference to first-class cricket points to a structural debate that has run through Pakistan cricket for several years. The domestic system has undergone repeated restructuring, moving between departmental and regional models, and the volume of first-class cricket played by centrally contracted internationals has fallen as international schedules have expanded. Coaches have argued periodically that extended red-ball practice in domestic conditions is the only reliable remedy for technical deficiencies exposed at Test level.
Batting in English conditions presents a specific and long-standing technical challenge for touring sides from the subcontinent. The combination of lateral movement off the seam, overhead conditions favouring swing and a ball that retains hardness for longer places sustained demands on technique against the moving delivery — an examination that has troubled visiting batting orders across generations.
The three players the coach named have been central to Pakistan’s middle order in recent cycles, which is why their form has attracted disproportionate scrutiny.
Sarfaraz Ahmed, who captained Pakistan across formats including the 2017 Champions Trophy triumph, brings the perspective of a player who himself experienced form-related exclusion during his playing career.
The series continues.
Leave a Reply