"Dot balls have been an issue even during my time as coach" : Waqar Younis

[waqar goraya]

Former Pakistan captain and coach, Waqar Younis, spoke on the TV earlier.

"Dot balls has been an issue for a long time with us, even during my time as coach."

"The issue was that we played way too many dot deliveries and that cost us games."

"Once again (in yesterday's game) when we were chasing such a big total, you cannot afford to play so many dot balls."

"We played 115 dot deliveries out of 202 balls which is more than 50% that you are blocking out when you need a run-rate of 8+."

"Thats's where we are having issues and I am sure Sarfraz will sit down with the coach and discuss this and do changes if needed."

 

[Amjid Javed]

If dots ball were an issue back then waqar what are the players actually doing to rectify that problem?

 

[jadaja]

Rectifying the problem is not easy as people on here think.You need ability also, Rohit Sharma used lot of balls also but he was saved due to late hitting by Kohli and Yuvraj.

It is not all gloom and doom, if catches were held the score would have been 270-280 which is totally different ball game.

These players should never get selected Shahzad, Hafeez and Wahab again for this team.

 

[OmaIR1]

If dots ball were an issue back then waqar what are the players actually doing to rectify that problem?

This is the first thing that came to my mind reading this as well.

Also, if he noticed the issue during his time then what did he do about it? Why didn't he implement a new strategy?

This slow, toothless batting has been the death of Pakistan for the last decade. You can't win games like that in the modern era.

 

[MRSN]

The most dot balls were played by our test match specialist which is surprising...not

 

[Dr_Bassim]

The most dot balls were played by our test match specialist which is surprising...not

The interesting thing is this.

How can they still NOT be an issue when the same players are playing which were having problems during Waqar's time.

What did he expect?

Dot ball mastery?

Hafeez, Azhar and Shehzad still exist, so problem still exists.

 

[Syed1]

Play Azhar, Shehzad and Hafeez, and then complain about dot balls.



That is like asking why does it hurt when we fall down the stairs.

 

[Buffet]

Same players will have same issues no matter who is coaching them. Rotating the strike is a difficult skill set and you have to practice a lot for that.

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

Waqar Younis should be the last guy commentating on this. Nevertheless what else did you expect by promoting guys like Azhar, Shafiq, Shehzad, Hafeez over the years?

 

[Mamoon]

Yes we had plenty of issues in your tenure, but your solution to every problem was to do hundreds laps of the ground, and do some sit ups and jumping jacks.

No coach can do wonders with this lot, bug Arthur at least has an objective. Unfortunately, it is clear to him now that this is a hopeless bunch.

 

[JibranAnsari]

We all though we had got rid of hafeez , azhar and shehzad for good but thanks to inzi and arthur they are back one after another. Hafeez in australia , shehzad in west indies and azhar in england.

 

[hisham_ashraf]

Only solution to reduce the dot ball percentage is to send Sarfaraz at no.4.It is an ideal position for him too,wonder why does he bat at no.6 when he has hit ONLY 1 SIX IN LAST 7 YEARS BATTING AT THIS POSITION!!
PPers would actually handle this Pak team better then the management is doing..

 

[Haroon786]

Get rid of the deadwood and then complain about batting approach, otherwise it's doing the same thing and expecting different results.

 

[MRSN]

The interesting thing is this.

How can they still NOT be an issue when the same players are playing which were having problems during Waqar's time.

What did he expect?

Dot ball mastery?

Hafeez, Azhar and Shehzad still exist, so problem still exists.

It's embarrasing to see our super test hero supposed to anchor the ship plays 39 dot balls and can't time the ball or take single despite being at crease for 15 overs. We need to dump him for good and forget about his ODI comeback forever.

 

[Savak]

Playing with soft hands, placing the ball in the gap, running b/w the wickets, fitness, not being scared of getting run out. All go hand in hand.

 

[The_Odd_One]

It is not a problem with the coach, it is the problem with the batsmen.

I am sure both Waqar and Mickey did not instruct Shezahd and Azhar to bat at snail's pace. Why would they do so? It is the selfish batsmen who play to secure their spot on the team by scoring a useless 50.

The blame falls on Inzy, the revolutionary, who picked the two worst available options.

 

[big_gamer007]

Playing with soft hands, placing the ball in the gap, running b/w the wickets, fitness, not being scared of getting run out. All go hand in hand.

Good post sums it up Pakistani players lack all of those abilities..

 

[Savak]

Waqar is all talk, no action. Should stick to the commentary box and fooling people.

 

[basitmian]

Rotating the strike is a difficult skill set and you have to practice a lot for that.

Everything is difficult in professional cricket. Rotating strike is a mindset and requires planning but it can be learnt. A boundary every 2 overs with good strike rotation can easily result in a consistent 6-7 runrate in ODIs.
But focus has to be there on this. They should put cones or fielders in practice and learn how to rotate strike and how to communicate with the runners on the other side.

Its all fixable provided they really want to fix it. Out of the 112 dot balls, imagine if we rotated 60-70% for singles.

 

[Markhor]

Yes Waqar, it would help if players like Shehzad, Hafeez, Azhar and Shafiq weren't given such long runs in the ODI team not only in Arthur's time but your time as coach in 3.5 of the last 7 years.

 

[Markhor]

The most dot balls were played by our test match specialist which is surprising...not

And yet appointed as ODI captain after 2015 World Cup despite not featuring in said WC or in ODIs for TWO years #WaqarLogic.

 

[Savak]

I think it was on record that both Waqar and Misbah had recommended Azhar Ali as ODI captain. Is anyone going to ask them about this? So Waqar gets to blame Shahryar and Sethi upon exit and gives the impression that everything in Pakistan Cricket was their fault and that he had nothing to be responsible for during his tenure as coach? The guy has been Pak's coach from 2010-2011 and 2014 to 2016. That is almost 3-4 years, what did you contribute or do as Pakistani Head Coach during this time period?

 

[MRSN]

And yet appointed as ODI captain after 2015 World Cup despite not featuring in said WC or in ODIs for TWO years #WaqarLogic.

Misbah and Waqar had great time to change fortunes of this ODI team but they presisted with short term solutions to save their posts. Waqar coached the team that used to play record no. Of dot balls by any team.

 

[Buffet]

Everything is difficult in professional cricket. Rotating strike is a mindset and requires planning but it can be learnt. A boundary every 2 overs with good strike rotation can easily result in a consistent 6-7 runrate in ODIs.
But focus has to be there on this. They should put cones or fielders in practice and learn how to rotate strike and how to communicate with the runners on the other side.

Its all fixable provided they really want to fix it. Out of the 112 dot balls, imagine if we rotated 60-70% for singles.

Once our team was forced to play against other team for 4-5 matches where 4/6s were not counted in score. We all had to look for rotating the strike to score runs. It did help somewhat, but you have to practice these things. We didn't see too huge an improvement, but it forced everyone to focus on taking singles and doubles by placing the ball in gaps. Biggest problem is that you need to have range of shots to consistently rotate the strike otherwise opposition can plug the gaps and you simply don't go anywhere.

 

[proud_pakistani]

I can't blame Waqar for not solving Pakistans batting problems but it amazes me how he was not able to get through to the pacers. Why can't Wahab manage to bowl a decent line and length. Wahab continues to have issues in his wrist position. Why did Waqar not rectify these issues. I look at how Umesh Yadav and Bumrah have developed and it tells me with good training your game can be developed. Other bowlers also have many issues.

 

[Savak]

I can't blame Waqar for not solving Pakistans batting problems but it amazes me how he was not able to get through to the pacers. Why can't Wahab manage to bowl a decent line and length. Wahab continues to have issues in his wrist position. Why did Waqar not rectify these issues. I look at how Umesh Yadav and Bumrah have developed and it tells me with good training your game can be developed. Other bowlers also have many issues.

Difference in work ethics and desire to improve. Our players just dont feel comfortable getting out of their comfort zones.

 

[Hasan123]

Yes these were problems during your coaching tenure and your solution was to make them run laps and laps around NCA.

 

[proud_pakistani]

Difference in work ethics and desire to improve. Our players just dont feel comfortable getting out of their comfort zones.

Yep it is strange why there is a lack of desire to improve. These guys like to live off 1 good performance. Look at Kohli, he is relentless in his approach. I have heard he has not eaten daal roti for 2 years. If Umar Akmal had that kind of dedication there is no reason he could not have become one of the top batsmen in the world. I guess passion is missing. Unfortunately the most passionate Pakistanis are on this forum rather than on the field.

 

[Savak]

Yes these were problems during your coaching tenure and your solution was to make them run laps and laps around NCA.

To be honest, Waqar has not moved on from the 80's and 90's himself, he has that same mindset, people look at him as a saviour because he is not exposed to the level of cricket today. I bet even he would have struggled as a bowler in this era.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

We all though we had got rid of hafeez , azhar and shehzad for good but thanks to inzi and arthur they are back one after another. Hafeez in australia , shehzad in west indies and azhar in england.

Magic.

 

[Abdullah719]

I think the personnel might have something to do with that...

 

[KyoOne]

Yes we had plenty of issues in your tenure, but your solution to every problem was to do hundreds laps of the ground, and do some sit ups and jumping jacks.

No coach can do wonders with this lot, bug Arthur at least has an objective. Unfortunately, it is clear to him now that this is a hopeless bunch.

It was clear to him before as well. A poster here shared how he met Mickey and said it would be an achievement to win a single game, to which Mickey laughed and said "yeah". To me that reaction to an informal chat was enough an indication that he had low hopes from this bunch of largely mediocre players.

He was perhaps waiting for this opportunity to eliminate deadwood. Perhaps he already knew that Azhar, Shehzad, Hafeez, Wahab are useless, having shown zero improvement despite years of international exposure, and would now have a good case to eliminate them once and for all.

The problem is, selectors will never be brave enough to pick top domestic performers like Sahibzada, Yamin, Sohail Khan, Asghar, Umasa Mir, etc.

A lot of deadwood will be recycled time and again

 

[Oneking]

Bingo completely agree with u either # 4 or he should open and take advantage of power play

 

[humzy]

Rotating the strike comes from game awareness and lack of fear which instills the confidence to judge the run within a second however none of these batsmen have either of those traits.