KARACHI: Zimbabwe could hugely benefit from their coach Dav Whatmore’s knowledge about the strengths and weaknesses of Pakistan players in the key World Cup clash set to be played at Brisbane on Sunday, former captain Rashid Latif said on Friday.

“Yes, Whatmore’s presence as coach will definitely give the Zimbabwean team a bit of an edge as he has been a former coach of the Pakistan team and knows a lot about our players’ psyche and their game,” Rashid said in an interview.

However, Rashid sounded confident about Sunday’s match and said that despite suffering two big defeats against India and West Indies, Pakistan will do better against Zimbabwe.

“Pakistan team is facing a lot of pressure and other problems but they will still do good against Zimbabwe,” predicted Rashid, who is easily among the sharpest cricketing minds in the country.

“We all fail to understand what’s going on with the team in Australia and what are the problems with the players,” he remarked.

The former wicket-keeper strongly advocated the inclusion of wicket-keeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed in the line-up for Sunday’s match. “Sarfraz is a courageous batsman and he could be the best choice in the circumstances. Dropping him in the first two games was a blunder and it is time to make amends,” he added.

He said Pakistan team must go with five bowlers including leg-spinner Yasir Shah. “Yasir can pose a lot of problems for Zimbabwe batsmen if he gets his googlies and slippers right,” he maintained.

In the meantime, another ex-Pakistan wicketkeeper and captain Wasim Bari called for serious soul searching by the Pakistan camp if they wanted to revive their fortunes in the Cricket World Cup. “The way this clueless Pakistan team has played against India and the West Indies, it looked as if they did not put any heart and soul in their game,” he commented.

Bari called upon veteran batsman Younis Khan to voluntarily sit out a couple of games in the best interest of the team. “Younis is a patriotic player and a high-class batsman and he should set an example here, just like Misbah who sat out an ODI against Australia in the UAE last year.”

He stressed the need for including specialist wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed in the team.

Bari, who featured in two World Cups in England in 1975 and 1979, also favoured the inclusion of paceman Rahat Ali in the next game to strengthen the bowling.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2015

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