Former captain Wasim Akram has called on the Pakistani openers to seek inspiration and learn from the exploits of Indian senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar. Wasim, who is in Sri Lanka commentating on the World Cup matches, also expressed his frustration over Pakistan's performance against Zimbabwe yesterday.
In pic: Sachin Tendulkar acknowledges the cheers after his 48th ODI century © Getty Images
The former fast bowler called on openers, Muhammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shahzad to learn the art of batting and building an innings from Tendulkar. The two openers have failed to provide a single decent start to the Pakistan team in five matches of the World Cup and Wasim felt both needed to rethink their approach to batting. "They should learn from Tendulkar, look at him he is 38 plus and yet he is still going strong. He just plays normal cricket in the first ten overs and does not gift his wicket," Akram said.
"Tendulkar is a role model for many others and the Pakistani openers should learn from him how to build an innings and how to tackle dicey conditions. Look at Shahzad he is immensely talented but the moment the ball does a little movement he either starts shuffling across the line or moving in his crease and is gifting his wicket. Hafeez is also getting out constantly shuffling across," he explained.
Wasim said the Pakistani openers need to learn from Tendulkar that even in One-day cricket one needs to build an innings. "Even if you have scored 50 odds runs in the first 12 or 15 overs and have wickets in hand you are in a good position. And Pakistan's strength is that if they have wickets in hand they can go for quick runs in the final overs," he said.
He pointed out that Tendulkar was still going strong as he stuck to the basics well and didn't try anything extraordinary. "His hunger for runs is astonishing," Akram told Geo Super channel.
Akram was also not satisfied with the performance of Pakistan over Zimbabwe. "I want this team to win the World Cup and they can do it. Every Pakistani wants the team to win the tournament but their approach is frustrating. Every side that Zimbabwe played they outclassed them but our team approached the game as if they were nervous and scared," Akram said.
"Our team needs to adopt a more pro-active approach and show natural aggression. You can't win the World Cup with a defensive mindset and I am frustrated that we didn't beat Zimbabwe more convincingly. This was our chance to send out a clear signal to the other teams," he added.
The former captain also said that the Pakistan team management needs to work out issues. "One person says Shoaib Akhtar was dropped for the match against Zimbabwe, the coach is saying he was rested. There is a big difference between these two things and Pakistan needs to sort out these little things that create confusion," he said.
Akram also said he would like to play Shoaib in the remaining matches and use him as a wicket-taking bowler. He also said India's defeat to South Africa was neither shocking nor surprising. "All of us have been saying India is strong on paper but their bowling lacks wicket-takers and so far in the tournament their bowling has been exposed. It is a problem area for them and they are depending too heavily on their batting. See what happened against South Africa their batsmen also need to know what they want in this tournament," he said. —PTI
