|
|
| May 18, 2005 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1426 |
Pakistan’s real test will be in England: Imran
WASHINGTON, May 17: Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan has predicted that Pakistan can easily win the series against the West Indies but its real test would be playing against England. “The Pakistan team is in a winning form. It is no more a disjointed bunch. In the West Indies, cricket is on the decline because of the popularity of American sports,” said Imran while explaining why he thinks Pakistan can comfortably win the series against the West Indies.
“But England is different. When we go there for our next series, we will have to struggle to win,” he added.
Imran remarked that Inzamamul Haq has emerged as “the world’s best match-winning batsman and during the Indian tour he also matured as a captain.”
In India, he said, Pakistan displayed ‘team spirit and a fighting quality’ and Inzamam played a key role in infusing this new confidence in the team.
Younis Khan has established himself as an accomplished No 3 batsman and Rana Navedul Hasan gave an outstanding performance in India, said Imran.
He termed Danish Kaneria and Salman Butt as ‘very talented’ players and as ‘future prospects’ for Pakistan. He also included Kamran Akmal in this category.
“Afridi has an immense talent, and he is set to maintain his excellent form in the West Indies. I think he will make big scores during this tour.”
He said Younis played a pivotal role in India and his 147 in Kolkata set the team on the winning course and he continued to contribute to Pakistan’s revival by scoring 267 and 84 in the final Test.
Imran said he telephoned Inzamam when the team returned from India and urged him to take Shoaib Akhtar to the West Indies.
“He is a match winner, and he should have been in the team. I would have voted for him, on merit,” he said.
Instead of dropping him from the team, they should have restrained him during the tour, said Imran, adding: “You do not drop a player because you cannot discipline him.”
Imran added that it was true that Shoaib ‘likes attention, gets too excited and lacks discipline’ but he was no worse than several other players.
“No body can be more difficult than Sarfraz Nawaz but I continued to play him.”
He said Shoaib gave excellent performance in two Tests during Pakistan’s tour to Australia and he could have done even better in the West Indies.
Asked to compare the Pakistan team with other Test playing nations, Imran Khan placed Pakistan, India and South Africa in the same category with Pakistan set to move ahead if they maintained their present form.
“England are better than Pakistan and Australia are the best. There is a big gap between the Pakistani and Australian teams. I do not see Australia coming down yet,” said Imran.
|
|
