Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Pakistan lack match winners: Waqar

January 25, 2010 15:36 IST

In a scathing criticism of the Pakistan cricket team, former captain and current bowling coach Waqar Younis said its poor show in the ongoing series against Australia is hardly surprising as the side lacks self belief and match winners.

"Keep in mind that you are playing against the world's best team in their own backyard. We can only beat a team like Australia at its home by playing top quality cricket with the help of some match-winning players. Unfortunately we don't have many match winners in this squad," he said.

"Our lack of self belief has been a big problem. The boys played good cricket at times but it seemed that they never really believed that they could beat Australia," he added.

Waqar, who is based in Sydney, said Pakistan cricket has been surviving on individual brilliance for too long now.

"I am actually surprised that after so many years we have done pretty well in international cricket on the basis of talent alone," he said.

"I mean we never had a proper system in place that could produce world class cricketers. We were just lucky that we always got some gifted cricketers, who would help us do well," he stated.

Pakistan were whitewashed 0-3 in the Test series and are trailing the five-matches ODI rubber 0-2 against the Aussies.

Harris brought in as cover for injured Siddle

Right-arm pacer Ryan Harris was on Monday added to the Australian team as a cover for injured Peter Siddle ahead of Tuesday's third ODI against Pakistan in Adelaide.

Cricket Australia's National Selection Panel (NSP) on Monday said Siddle has reported back soreness after the second One-dayer against Pakistan in Sydney.

"Peter Siddle experienced some back soreness after last night's ODI in Sydney. He'll be assessed during the course of the day tomorrow when a decision on his availability for the match at Adelaide Oval will be made," Australian team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said in a statement.

Australia lead the five-match ODI series 2-0.

© Copyright 2024 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.