KARACHI, March 21: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Monday praised Pakistan’s fighting spirit in the first two Test matches against India but advised them to rely more on spin bowlers in the third and last game.
India won the second Test against Pakistan by 195 runs in Kolkata, while the first test in Mohali ended in a draw in Pakistan’s first cricket tour to India in six years.
“Remember they started the tour as underdogs but I must say they showed fighting skill in both the Test matches,” said former Pakistan skipper Imran.
“It’s worth praising that at least they went on fighting till the end,” he said.
“They don’t have a strong pace attack so they should play with two specialist spinners to bowl India out in both innings,” he said.
“The result at Kolkata could have been different had they got over 100 runs lead in the first innings, but India bounced back and have the kind of attack to bowl them out twice,” Imran said.
Pakistan must give off-spinner Arshad Khan a try against India, he said.
Imran also complimented India, saying they have real match winners like Anil Kumble and a balanced pace attack.
The present Indian team was a much better outfit than Pakistan and would continue to have an upper hand, Imran said, but he added that in the one-dayers things could be different.
“Pakistan have a good record against India in one-day games in recent months,” said Imran, who played 82 Tests and 175 one day games for Pakistan from 1971 to 1992. He also led Pakistan to their only World Cup triumph in 1992.—AFP
