"Disappointed with Test team’s complacency" : Zaheer Abbas

[jeetu]

http://nation.com.pk/sports/06-Nov-2016/zaheer-disappointed-with-test-team-s-complacency

Former International Cricket Council president Zaheer Abbas was disappointed that green caps failed to inflict whitewash on West Indian cricket team in Test series.

While talking exclusively to The Nation on Saturday, former Pakistan captain Zaheer, who is also well-known as Asian Bradman, said it was great to watch Pakistan inflicting whitewash in T20 Internationals, than in one-dayers on West Indies and they almost completed the hat-trick of whitewash, when they managed to beat West Indies in first two Tests.

"After performing so well, like we had witnessed so many times in the past, complacency once again denied green caps from completing a memorable whitewash in three Test match series against Caribbean’s."

Zaheer said after winning shorter formats, Pakistan were on a very high and it was expected they would go all out attacking and outclass West Indies in Test matches as well but players were not fully focused as it was clearly evident from their body language.

"The boys concentration was not of that level, which was required to maintain supremacy."

The way boy's played in the first and second Tests, that passion and desire to win was lacking in the third and final Test as they took West Indians very lightly and thought they had already won the third Test before playing a single delivery. That state of mind cost them dearly as everyone was expecting green caps to win the Test series comfortably, as we had one of the world’s best bowling attacks.

He said had Pakistan team won the Test series 3-0 it would have done wonders to their confidence and a great news for the cricket-starved masses, who are deprived of watching their favourite sons in action at their own play grounds as international teams are not ready to play in Pakistan, which is indeed highly unfortunate.

He said due to matchless sacrifices of Pakistan’s armed forces, situation is gradually improving with each passing day and the day is not far when Pakistani crowds would witness world teams and top players playing at their own backyard.

Zaheer said the 3-0 victory against West Indies would have given team psychological advantage in coming New Zealand series and after that stern Australia tour is just round the corner.

"Aamir and especially Wahab Riaz are looking in great shape"

Yasir was tipped to get wickets, but the way Wahab bowled with fire and venom is a good omen for green caps. He is bound to get assistance from New Zealand tracks and could play leading role in helping Pakistan team achieve more glory. He said Pakistan batting was a sign of worry for him as batsmen don’t perform on consistent basis and struggled against West Indian bowling.

"I would have not surprised had Pakistani batsmen were struggling against pace bowlers. I am highly disappointed, Pakistani batsmen were given rough time by West Indian spinners, especially Bishoo bowled with lot of authority and he troubled all the green caps batsmen. "

"Asians are well-known to play spinners quite well but reasons best known to Pakistani batsmen, they somehow can’t play Bishoo and others as they should have played. Anyhow its past now, the players must focus on task ahead and try to improve their flaws as quickly as possible ," Zaheer concluded.

 

[marlonbrowndo]

Good to see him praise Amir and Wahab who obviously bowled well on dead pitches regardless of what some of our former players and experts here say

 

[Pete Rose]

Another one from long line of ex players who wake up when something goes wrong

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD (AP) Former ICC president and test captain Zaheer Abbas believes Pakistan will eventually revive international cricket in the country.

''I do not want to predict a time frame of international teams touring Pakistan, but I do hope over the next 2-3 years we could see them playing back in Pakistan,'' Abbas said Tuesday. ''When I used to sit on international forums as ICC president I used to talk a lot about it (cricket in Pakistan), but people didn't want to come due to their security concerns.''

Pakistan has not hosted a major test-playing nation since terrorists attacked a Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in March 2009. Only Zimbabwe has toured Pakistan since then but that was for a short three-match one-day series last year - also in Lahore.

''Pakistan has a very strong team and it is very important member of ICC,'' said Abbas, who scored a century of centuries in first class cricket. ''Without Pakistan cricket, the world of cricket is not complete.

''The government and people also want the cricket to come back to Pakistan.''

Abbas now tours various cities of Punjab province like Rawalpindi, Multan and Sialkot, where he has been assigned by the provincial government to establish academies for schoolchildren.

When asked whether during his tenure as ICC president he made efforts to bring international cricket back to Pakistan, Abbas said he wasn't the representative of the PCB but was representing ''all the 104 members of the International Cricket Council.''

The United Arab Emirates has been Pakistan's ''home'' since 2009 and the PCB has organized all of its international matches in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.

But there have been poor crowd attendances - especially in test matches in the UAE. During Pakistan's historic 400th test match, which was also its first-ever day-night test match, there were only a handful of spectators in Dubai against the West Indies.

''At the moment our main grounds are in UAE, but you must have noticed in test cricket only handful of people watched matches and you can realize how important it is to revive cricket back home,'' Abbas said. ''We play on the other side of the world and host international teams for months, financially it also hurts us.

''Cricket grounds (in UAE) demand so much money that I can't tell. I just pray that there's peace in Pakistan and foreign teams themselves say that they wanted to play in Pakistan.''

Despite no home test matches, Pakistan rose to No. 1 in test cricket briefly before slipping to No. 2 after India defeated New Zealand recently.

And that has impressed Abbas.

''There's no international cricket in Pakistan and despite that we became No. 1 and now No. 2. It clearly shows how much depth we have in our test team,'' Abbas said.

Abbas also said the PCB could do more to bring in foreign teams. Shahryar Khan is the chairman of PCB, but he never played first-class cricket.

''I don't want to criticize the present setup, they have done lots of good things,'' Abbas said, ''but to me a sportsman of that particular game should be the head of it.''

http://www.foxsports.com/cricket/st...t-can-come-back-to-pakistan-abbas-says-110816