The performances though haven’t simply matched up to what was expected of them. Waqar singled it out as one of the key things that cost them dear in the tournament.
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“I think the difference in the team is clear”. The selectors need to look at that too. He suggested that “we should bring in youngsters and fielding aspect should be considered while selecting the players”.
He had also resigned as the coach following the defeat and reportedly applied for coaching with Australia.
“He (Waqar) is at times not fair and that is something which bugs a lot of players”, one player from the current Pakistan team told “The News” on the condition of anonymity. Waqar believes that the malaise is deeper and that it is starting to reflect on the cricket played at the worldwide level. “Now that we’ve lost, anything I say may be assumed as an excuse”. “But if you look deeply there has been no cricket in Pakistan for the last six-seven years; its effects are showing. We do not have match winning players like we used to have in the past”. Earlier we had match winners like Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez who could bowl. “It is very important to address it. We need to see where the infrastructure and domestic cricket is headed”, said the former captain.
The game against Australia might have well been the last assignment for two men in key positions in the team. About himself, Waqar said: “About my career we will see what the state of affairs are”. “I met with the PCB chairman for a short while at the Kolkata airport and that is all”.
On captain Shahid Afridi’s retirement plans, Waqar said: “What I have heard is going to go back and do a press conference in Pakistan and decide what his future plans are”.
But sources in the PCB said that the Board is yet to take a final decision on Waqar’s future and will make a call once the team returns home from India early next week.
According to another player, Pakistan team could be better off with a foreign coach who “won’t have any personal scores to settle”.
Strongly denying of any rift in the Pakistsan players, Waqar Younis said ” there is no truth in it. These are only rumours.
Do you agree that Pakistan are in decline?
“That the boys are not in agreement, not united, these are all made-up things”. I am amazed that these rumours are being spread.
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On his own job being on the line, Younis said he would call on the Pakistan Cricket Board chief soon “and see what needs to be done”. “And as a result of this we have to face all this”. “These tournaments bring the required changes and hopefully it does the same for Pakistan cricket”, he added. On Friday against Australia, Pakistan’s strength became their biggest let-down. The answer to Pakistan’s problems perhaps lies there.
