Former Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf has lambasted Pakistan batsmen for playing cricket to improve their batting averages in spite of meeting requirement of the team before adding Babar Azam is the good prospect for the national side.
“The passion and the patriotism aren’t there in the senior Pakistani batsmen,” Yousuf was quoted as saying by PakPassion.
The 42-year-old stalwart Yousuf stated the senior batsmen in current Pakistan team are focusing on to achieve their personal milestones which further mar the modern approach in the field of cricket.
“I will go as far as to say that these senior batsmen in the Pakistan ODI team are putting their own averages ahead of the team’s requirements,” said Yousuf.
Former Pakistan skipper stating it results in the total failure to post the respective targets before chasing the daunting totals set by their oppositions.
“The biggest problem is that the Pakistani batsmen are batting for themselves and not for their country. It seems like they are more interested in scoring a fifty than they are in ensuring that Pakistan wins,” Yousuf added.
Yousuf asserted Babar Azam is the ray of hope for Pakistan cricket as he should be properly used in the batting order.
“Babar is a classy batsman who should not be shuffled around in the batting order. He is Pakistan’s future and a world-class talent,” remarked Yousuf.
Yousuf revealed there’s lack of intent that takes the game away and Pakistan side is yet to meet the standards of modern day cricket.
“Our batsmen, in the modern game, achieve a strike rate of 80 and they are ecstatic; well sorry, but these days that does not work. Anyone can make a half-century at a poor strike rate, but what really counts are the innings that change the course of a match,” Yousuf revealed.
The former right-handed and elegant stroke-maker Yousuf, who broke Sir Vivian Richards’ record of most numbers of runs in a calendar year further expressed his dissatisfaction over the way senior batsmen build up their innings at the strike-rate of around 80 before losing the plot in a mid way while struggling against pacers, according to Yousuf.
“In the modern game, playing a selfish innings of 40 or 50 runs at a strike-rate of 75 doesn’t help anyone,” Yousuf stated.
Yousuf revealed the national batsman become self-satisfied as they have been playing at their adopted home in the United Arab Emirates, where it’s easy to accumulate runs.
Yousuf, who had featured in 90 Tests for Pakistan has cautioned Pakistan Cricket Board to rectify their mistakes as the batsmen have been struggling during the overseas conditions.
“The biggest problem is that we have been playing our home series in UAE. Those pitches are wonderful for batting and our batsmen have become accustomed to those batting-friendly conditions and have become lazy,” Yousuf further added.
While making his international debut in 1998, Yousuf scored 7,530 runs in Tests followed by 9,720 runs in 288 ODIs. He has also played three T20Is.
The Punjab-born Yousuf had scored 24 hundreds in Tests and 15 centuries in ODIs.