Abdullah719
T20I Captain
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2013
- Runs
- 44,825
“I’m very optimistic that Azhar will produce the goods for the team in the next match”: Waqar Younis
Waqar Younis at a press conference:
On Naseem Shah
“It was a tough pill to swallow, losing the previous Test match; I thought we won more sessions and played really well but unfortunately, we lost sessions at the wrong time and that really cost us the game”
“Naseem Shah is very very talented, he is only 17-18 years of age; He is still growing, his bones are growing but what a talent he is”
“I dont think he bowled as well as we expected in the previous game but he can really bowl well and take the opposition on; But because he is young and inexperienced, so its gets tough sometimes but he is one for the future and will get stronger, and hopefully get fitter and be able to bowl longer spells and he will cause trouble for batsmen around the world”
“If you are a fast-bowler, you should be able to look into the eyes of the batsman, run in hard and trust your ability which Naseem does; He is still young and learning, it will take a bit more time and as he plays more cricket; He will get more mature and be a little harder to face”
“Cricket has changed since the time we played; Its much more technical now - in our days it was a bit more pure - would just run in and bowl with no knowledge around how to bowl to batsmen in a certain way; We just used to go there and work it out; But now its different and you have to calculate…”
“Naseem is young and has a very good action; Once he gets fitter, and bowls more overs, he will definitely be a force for Pakistan in the coming few years; Pakistan has over the years produced some really good quality fast-bowlers over the past 2 decades or so; If he keeps fit and keeps on bowling, he has the potential to become a very good bowler”
“His action hasnt changed - maybe because no competitive cricket has happened for a while so you are thinking like that”
State of Southampton Pitch
“We havent seen the pitch yet but we can only answer that once we have seen it”
Ben Stokes
“There is no doubt about the fact that Ben Stokes is the kind of batsman who takes the game away from you, singlehandedly at times; I wont say his absence will be a boost as in the previous game, I thought we had clear plans and executed them very well; He is not around now, its unfortunate for cricket and there is no doubt that he is a match-winner; If he isnt around then, England will be a touch light when we talk about the middle order so we will try and cash in on this”
Yasir Shah
“He is a match-winner and an attacking bowler; likes to be involved in the game all the time which is apparent from his batting also, his bowling and his aggressive approach; We are very lucky to have him; He’s won Pakistan heaps of games and his record speaks for itself; Unfortunately, he couldnt finish the game, although the pitch (Old Trafford) Was tailor-made for him; He could have bowled out England but that’s the way cricket goes - sometimes it comes your way, sometimes it doesnt but we have full faith in him that he will deliver in the coming games”
Tired Bowlers
“We havent decided yet who we will play (tomorrow) at the moment but we havent played any cricket for a long period of time, its been a good 4-5 months after which we played this last Test match - I dont think (tiredness in players) is an issue at the moment with the team- yes its hot here and I am sure, but looking at the forecasts, its going to cool down in a few days and I am sure these guys are still capable and have plenty of gas left in them to tackle this Test and we will see after that how it goes”
Faheem Ashraf
“He is another very talented cricketer but its unfortunate that he hasnt really kicked off as yet in his career; He’s a good T20 and OD bowler but when it comes to Test match cricket, he hasnt played that many (Tests) and hasnt made an impact in the Tests he has played in; He’s here and we are looking at him - we haven’t really decided yet (on playing him) but we are thinking about it - we will definitely gear him up and see if he is ready to go and deliver the goods for Pakistan”
Era of Fast-bowlers
“Fast-bowling has always been the beauty of cricket, and now we have heaps of them (good fast-bowlers) and because certain teams play a lot more Test matches than the others and the records suggest that their bowlers have got lot of wickets; The 2 supreme fast-bowlers (Broad-Anderson) have got a lot of wickets in England but we dont play so many Tests in Pakistan; The quality is there - no doubt about that and its good for the game that all these quality fast-bowlers are coming around and making this game look prettier”
Pakistan bowling's performance in 1st Test and previous ones before that
"There is always room for improvement - there is no doubt about it - if we had won the 1st Test then this question would not have come up; We didnt bowl that badly but unfortunately since we have lost the match so questions will be raised of course"
"I dont know about the last 8 Tests but on the Australia tour, then against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh I thought the fast bowlers did a wonderful job; Against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh we did well; Against Australia, it was the first tour for the management and all our fast bowlers like Naseem were still very young; So it will take some time to groom them and since not much cricket hasnt been played by us, there are some gaps which we will try and cover; These bowlers are our future and I am hopeful that they will deliver for Pakistan"
Pressure on Azhar Ali
"Only Azhar can answer that but being captain and batting in the top order is not easy, he has been captaining for a while now; When you have a bad match then it is highlighted - your brain is working overtime when that happens as I know that because I have been captain myself; You have responsibilities and you have to handle a lot of things and then you have to focus on your batting as well; If we had won this match, his performance would not have been highlighted and he would have got encouragement because he would have won a match"
"He's a seasoned player with 80 odd Tests, he has scored in England as well and he knows how to come out of these situations, and this is not the first time this situation has happened for him and I am very hopeful that he will deliver in this Test and in the upcoming 3rd Test also"
Responsibility for defeat
"I think we are all responsible for this defeat - batting, bowling and fielding; if you analyse the game then you will see that we were winning for 3.5 days; Cricket is a funny game where if a team plays as if all boats have been burned then such situations can happen; We played really really good cricket until Lunch on 4th day where the match was in our total control; Even after that we bowled well but luck has to side with you also in cricket; We must have been lacking in something; Luck was not with us as some of the catches didnt go to hand; Only when you make mistakes is when you lose games so we must have made mistakes in batting, bowling etc; No one was expecting that the game will slip out of our hands but that's cricket"
Pakistan bowling attack
"They are very talented and they help set up the game in the 1st innings and also bowled well in 2nd innings; We cannot match the experience of the England bowling attack so what can we do about it? This is our best choice attack and these are the same boys who recently won games for Pakistan in our home series; This series is not over - just one match has happened and I am sure Inshallah that we will bounce back"
Heavyweights in Pakistan dressing room (coaches)
"There is no doubt that Pakistan dressing room has heavy weights in terms of coaches, but they can only stay out of the ground and not go into the ground; You can train players but delivery is upto players; We are working on it to try and improve things and the players will get better when they get experience"
"Final authority on all decisions is with Misbah but we do advise him when we are asked to do so"
Extra batsman in Pakistan lineup for 2nd Test
"If the Chief Selector wants to go with another batsman or not - I have no answer for that
Planning against Chris Woakes was not good as we didnt consider him as a batsman
"Who gave you this impression?"
Its from former cricketers - some of your friends
"I have been part of the media so I know its easy to say such things but only we know the reality; Only we know how much work we are doing; I think we prepared ourselves very well but this is cricket and such things happen"
Sohail Khan inclusion
"We have 29 players and there are T20 players here also, and any player can be asked to play - so of course that is totally on (possibility of Sohail Khan) and no one is being ignored"
Lack of planning vs Woakes/Buttler
"Its best you read Wasim Akram's statement about this then comeback and ask me"
Did we relax after taking 5 wickets
"Our plan was to take all 10 wickets - our plan wasnt to take 5 wickets only - that could not have been our plan!"
"If you understand cricket that well, you will know that this happens in cricket that its not your day, luck doesnt favour you, you drop catches - it happens in cricket"
Fawad Alam - hopes about him in his comeback
"It seems that you know he will play but I dont know about that! Inshallah if he does play, we have high hopes that he will do well for Pakistan"
Waqar Younis at a press conference:
On Naseem Shah
“It was a tough pill to swallow, losing the previous Test match; I thought we won more sessions and played really well but unfortunately, we lost sessions at the wrong time and that really cost us the game”
“Naseem Shah is very very talented, he is only 17-18 years of age; He is still growing, his bones are growing but what a talent he is”
“I dont think he bowled as well as we expected in the previous game but he can really bowl well and take the opposition on; But because he is young and inexperienced, so its gets tough sometimes but he is one for the future and will get stronger, and hopefully get fitter and be able to bowl longer spells and he will cause trouble for batsmen around the world”
“If you are a fast-bowler, you should be able to look into the eyes of the batsman, run in hard and trust your ability which Naseem does; He is still young and learning, it will take a bit more time and as he plays more cricket; He will get more mature and be a little harder to face”
“Cricket has changed since the time we played; Its much more technical now - in our days it was a bit more pure - would just run in and bowl with no knowledge around how to bowl to batsmen in a certain way; We just used to go there and work it out; But now its different and you have to calculate…”
“Naseem is young and has a very good action; Once he gets fitter, and bowls more overs, he will definitely be a force for Pakistan in the coming few years; Pakistan has over the years produced some really good quality fast-bowlers over the past 2 decades or so; If he keeps fit and keeps on bowling, he has the potential to become a very good bowler”
“His action hasnt changed - maybe because no competitive cricket has happened for a while so you are thinking like that”
State of Southampton Pitch
“We havent seen the pitch yet but we can only answer that once we have seen it”
Ben Stokes
“There is no doubt about the fact that Ben Stokes is the kind of batsman who takes the game away from you, singlehandedly at times; I wont say his absence will be a boost as in the previous game, I thought we had clear plans and executed them very well; He is not around now, its unfortunate for cricket and there is no doubt that he is a match-winner; If he isnt around then, England will be a touch light when we talk about the middle order so we will try and cash in on this”
Yasir Shah
“He is a match-winner and an attacking bowler; likes to be involved in the game all the time which is apparent from his batting also, his bowling and his aggressive approach; We are very lucky to have him; He’s won Pakistan heaps of games and his record speaks for itself; Unfortunately, he couldnt finish the game, although the pitch (Old Trafford) Was tailor-made for him; He could have bowled out England but that’s the way cricket goes - sometimes it comes your way, sometimes it doesnt but we have full faith in him that he will deliver in the coming games”
Tired Bowlers
“We havent decided yet who we will play (tomorrow) at the moment but we havent played any cricket for a long period of time, its been a good 4-5 months after which we played this last Test match - I dont think (tiredness in players) is an issue at the moment with the team- yes its hot here and I am sure, but looking at the forecasts, its going to cool down in a few days and I am sure these guys are still capable and have plenty of gas left in them to tackle this Test and we will see after that how it goes”
Faheem Ashraf
“He is another very talented cricketer but its unfortunate that he hasnt really kicked off as yet in his career; He’s a good T20 and OD bowler but when it comes to Test match cricket, he hasnt played that many (Tests) and hasnt made an impact in the Tests he has played in; He’s here and we are looking at him - we haven’t really decided yet (on playing him) but we are thinking about it - we will definitely gear him up and see if he is ready to go and deliver the goods for Pakistan”
Era of Fast-bowlers
“Fast-bowling has always been the beauty of cricket, and now we have heaps of them (good fast-bowlers) and because certain teams play a lot more Test matches than the others and the records suggest that their bowlers have got lot of wickets; The 2 supreme fast-bowlers (Broad-Anderson) have got a lot of wickets in England but we dont play so many Tests in Pakistan; The quality is there - no doubt about that and its good for the game that all these quality fast-bowlers are coming around and making this game look prettier”
Pakistan bowling's performance in 1st Test and previous ones before that
"There is always room for improvement - there is no doubt about it - if we had won the 1st Test then this question would not have come up; We didnt bowl that badly but unfortunately since we have lost the match so questions will be raised of course"
"I dont know about the last 8 Tests but on the Australia tour, then against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh I thought the fast bowlers did a wonderful job; Against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh we did well; Against Australia, it was the first tour for the management and all our fast bowlers like Naseem were still very young; So it will take some time to groom them and since not much cricket hasnt been played by us, there are some gaps which we will try and cover; These bowlers are our future and I am hopeful that they will deliver for Pakistan"
Pressure on Azhar Ali
"Only Azhar can answer that but being captain and batting in the top order is not easy, he has been captaining for a while now; When you have a bad match then it is highlighted - your brain is working overtime when that happens as I know that because I have been captain myself; You have responsibilities and you have to handle a lot of things and then you have to focus on your batting as well; If we had won this match, his performance would not have been highlighted and he would have got encouragement because he would have won a match"
"He's a seasoned player with 80 odd Tests, he has scored in England as well and he knows how to come out of these situations, and this is not the first time this situation has happened for him and I am very hopeful that he will deliver in this Test and in the upcoming 3rd Test also"
Responsibility for defeat
"I think we are all responsible for this defeat - batting, bowling and fielding; if you analyse the game then you will see that we were winning for 3.5 days; Cricket is a funny game where if a team plays as if all boats have been burned then such situations can happen; We played really really good cricket until Lunch on 4th day where the match was in our total control; Even after that we bowled well but luck has to side with you also in cricket; We must have been lacking in something; Luck was not with us as some of the catches didnt go to hand; Only when you make mistakes is when you lose games so we must have made mistakes in batting, bowling etc; No one was expecting that the game will slip out of our hands but that's cricket"
Pakistan bowling attack
"They are very talented and they help set up the game in the 1st innings and also bowled well in 2nd innings; We cannot match the experience of the England bowling attack so what can we do about it? This is our best choice attack and these are the same boys who recently won games for Pakistan in our home series; This series is not over - just one match has happened and I am sure Inshallah that we will bounce back"
Heavyweights in Pakistan dressing room (coaches)
"There is no doubt that Pakistan dressing room has heavy weights in terms of coaches, but they can only stay out of the ground and not go into the ground; You can train players but delivery is upto players; We are working on it to try and improve things and the players will get better when they get experience"
"Final authority on all decisions is with Misbah but we do advise him when we are asked to do so"
Extra batsman in Pakistan lineup for 2nd Test
"If the Chief Selector wants to go with another batsman or not - I have no answer for that
Planning against Chris Woakes was not good as we didnt consider him as a batsman
"Who gave you this impression?"
Its from former cricketers - some of your friends
"I have been part of the media so I know its easy to say such things but only we know the reality; Only we know how much work we are doing; I think we prepared ourselves very well but this is cricket and such things happen"
Sohail Khan inclusion
"We have 29 players and there are T20 players here also, and any player can be asked to play - so of course that is totally on (possibility of Sohail Khan) and no one is being ignored"
Lack of planning vs Woakes/Buttler
"Its best you read Wasim Akram's statement about this then comeback and ask me"
Did we relax after taking 5 wickets
"Our plan was to take all 10 wickets - our plan wasnt to take 5 wickets only - that could not have been our plan!"
"If you understand cricket that well, you will know that this happens in cricket that its not your day, luck doesnt favour you, you drop catches - it happens in cricket"
Fawad Alam - hopes about him in his comeback
"It seems that you know he will play but I dont know about that! Inshallah if he does play, we have high hopes that he will do well for Pakistan"
Last edited by a moderator:
