Discarded Pakistan opener Nasir Jamshed in a recent interview stated that he was trying his best in order to make a comeback to the national side. Jamshed has done moderately well for Pakistan in the chances he got, but failed to do so, on a consistent basis. The southpaw was dropped after the side’s disastrous outing in the 2015 World Cup.
The opener recently spoke to Pakpassion.net, and stated that he was still confident about making a comeback to the side. Below, are the excerpts from his interview.
Do you feel you have a future with the Pakistan team?
At the moment I’m in England to improve technically and to score runs. If you score runs anywhere, people hear about it in Pakistan and the media obviously helps to spread the word.
At the moment I accept that I am out of the Pakistan team due to my performance and of course it’s my ambition to make a comeback, whether that’s in the next series or the series after that.
The most important thing for me is that if and when I make a comeback, I don’t make the same mistakes when batting again. So I want to be an improved player whenever I return to the team and make fewer mistakes so I can survive in international cricket.
I am looking to score heavily while in England and then do the same in domestic cricket in Pakistan so I can return to the national side as soon as possible.
Your last appearance in Pakistan colors was at the 2015 World Cup in Australia where you struggled. What went wrong at the World Cup?
The extra bounce in Australia makes it difficult for players from the subcontinent who predominantly play off the front foot on the lower slower pitches back home.
I wasn’t fully prepared for the extra pace and bounce in Australia as a result of which I didn’t perform well and was out to the short ball a couple of times.
Obviously wherever you play cricket, performance is the key and if you perform you’ll stay in the team, otherwise you won’t.
Most Pakistani fans remember your performances against India, particularly the centuries in 2012-13 when Pakistan won the ODI series in India. How did it feel to perform so well against the arch-rivals?
As a Pakistani, playing against India is a dream come true, so performing against them is the icing on the cake. So it was an incredible feeling to perform against a strong Indian side in their own home against players who had IPL experience and were in form.
Zaheer Abbas scored three ODI centuries against India and so have I so I’m very thankful about that. If I ever get the opportunity to play against India again I will play with the same passion, the same motivation and the same aggression.
How important is it that the new Chief Selector understands and is familiar with the modern game?
Inzamam-ul-Haq is a great choice as Chief Selector because he retired from international cricket relatively recently. He will have a good understanding of the modern game and will select a team accordingly.
I also think he should spend a bit of time with the players imparting his batting knowledge to them. He did a couple of batting sessions when I was part of the team and we learned a lot from him, so I think the PCB should consider doing that again.