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| July 31, 2006 | Monday | Rajab 4, 1427 |
Hanif holds coach, batting responsible for debacle
KARACHI, July 30: Cricket legend Hanif Mohammad on Sunday held Pakistan’s poor batting display and the decision to bat first on the bouncy Old Trafford track responsible for loss of the second Test against England.
“We took a wrong decision of batting first on the bouncy track as our batting trembles against quality bowling,” Hanif, arguably one of the greatest batsmen produced by Pakistan, said while commenting on the Pakistan's defeat by an innings and 120 runs.
The former Test captain criticised Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer for taking the ‘silly’ decision: “Woolmer is an experienced coach and is fully aware of the conditions in the United Kingdom. So why did he take the decision of batting first?”
Hanif, however, defended skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan, saying: “The senior batsmen were under pressure because of persistent failure of the openers.
“The middle-order batting comes under pressure when openers don’t perform well.”
The batting great added that Pakistan was already facing problems without Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhtar and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and advised the team management to try out players like Shahid Nazir, Samiullah Niazi and Taufiq Umar in the third Test.—APP
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