Fakhar-Zaman-and-Gary-Kirsten.-Photo-PCB.
Fakhar-Zaman-and-Gary-Kirsten.-Photo-PCB.

Fakhar Zaman, the Pakistan batter, praised the new head coach of the white-ball team, Gary Kirsten. But he also revealed that he is not listening to his advice regarding batting for this specific reason.

Pakistan travel to Edgbaston on Saturday, after the first game at Headingley was rained off, on the back of a succession of disappointing performances and increased scrutiny on their top order when batting first.

They drew a T20I series at home against a very depleted New Zealand side before winning the series against Ireland; in five of the 13 T20Is this year where Pakistan batted first, they scored 158, 134, 178, 178, and 182.

Gary Kirsten joined the Pakistan squad ahead of the England series, and early impressions have been favorable, even though it is too late to make a significant influence before the T20 World Cup.

When asked in the press conference about Gary Kirsten, Zaman said: “Too many new coaches. But Gary is such a great guy. He is new but we don’t feel he is new because the day he arrived he gelled with the team. He likes to talk to everyone. He likes to hear our story, how we play cricket and his own culture. We’re very excited to work with him.

He hasn’t had that much time but his mindset, the way he sits and talks with us like we’re friends, I really liked that. The World Cup is so close, so I’m not going to listen to anyone right now [about his own batting]. If you tinker stuff with a tournament so close it’s not easy. So I’m going to keep playing the way I am and then will work with him after that.”

‘We will play for 200-plus’: Fakhar Zaman confident about Pakistan team’s change in mindset

According to Fakhar Zaman, the loss to Ireland and England recently, has pushed Pakistan to finally adopt a more attacking approach when batting first. As a result, the new approach will most likely be revealed during the next three T20Is against England, the reigning T20I world champions and the team that has pushed the boundaries of attacking white-ball batting the most over the last decade.

“After we lost that first game against Ireland, after that the mindset that we made, the body language was very different. Nobody likes to lose, we understand that. But after that first match, the mindset that we have, if we continue that you will see a different side.

We have meetings after every game and the mindset we have now is that our target batting first is to make 200 or 200-plus. I am talking about this mindset, that if we go into the World Cup with it… there’s always talk about our batting, though the bowling is world class. What I’m saying is, our batting, the mindset that we have, and are batting with, you’ll see we will play for 200-plus. You’ll see the intent,” Fakhar was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

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