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| 20 December 2004 | Monday | 07 Ziqa'ad 1425 |
Disappointing performance: Bari
LAHORE, Dec 19: Chief selector Wasim Bari has expressed disappointment over the dismal performance of the Pakistan cricketers who lost the first Test to Australia at Perth on Sunday.
Talking to Dawn, Bari said that the most concerning point was that the team did not give a fight to the Aussies throughout the second innings. "They are professionals, capable of fighting back, but the way they threw the match is disappointing one," Wasim said.
The chief selector claimed that it was the best available lot in which the batting line was laced with seasoned batsmen Inzamamul Haq, Yousaf Youhana and Younis Khan. However, he avoided answering to a question as what was the real factor behind the debacle.
"I can't comment from about what happened there and as I am also the part of the PCB, therefore, I have no authority to speak in detail on this subject," he said. "I watched the match but I have no idea what was the planning and strategy of the captain or the coach for the match," he said.
He believes the team had the talent to deliver in the remaining Test. "Hopefully, the team will not repeat the mistakes, which it did at Perth," he said. Replying to a question, he said that pace man Shoaib Akhtar was quite fit and he had not received any report about his fitness.
Meanwhile, efforts to contact PCB chairman, Shaharyar M Khan, were in vain. The chairman had sacked Javed Miandad as coach saying the team did not give fight to India while losing the last Test at Rawalpindi in April this year.
With that defeat Pakistan lost the series 2-1. Miandad had recently claimed, through the press, that the performance of the team was much better under his coaching and it had been declining considerably under the coaching of Bob Woolmer.
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