Basit Ali slammed the Pakistan team management for not having a batting coach and sarcastically said that they should appoint Babar Azam to the post. This comes ahead of the first Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh that begins on August 21 in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan has elected to field an all-pace bowling assault in the series opener, with a green top constructed at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Jason Gillespie, a former Australian pacer, will take on his maiden task as Pakistan’s head coach.
Gillespie has decided to make significant adjustments to the team’s playing style, as they did not include a specialist spinner in their playing XI and instead chose Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Khurram Shahzad, and Mohammad Ali as their top four pacers.
Meanwhile, Saud Shakeel and Salman Ali Agha will be Pakistan’s part-time spinners against Najmul Shanto and company.
Basit took a sarcastic dig at the Pakistan team for not having a batting coach and said only Babar Azam is eligible to guide them now.
“The opposition is like a team of kids. Do Pakistan have the courage to prepare a pitch like this (grass) against England? There was no need for a batting coach with Gary Kirsten at the helm, right? So, now with Jason Gillespie, why do we need a separate bowling coach? Who is going to tell them about batting? Only Babar Azam is left. Make Babar the batting coach as well then,” Basit Ali said on his YouTube channel.
Pakistan will look to begin their home Test season on a high as last year, they had lost the home series to Australia and were white-washed by England.
Jason Gillespie shouldn’t have brought an Australian coach to Pakistan’s NCA: Basit Ali
The Pakistan team has come under fire over the last year for failing to deliver positive results on the big stage across formats. Basit also criticized the PCB for allowing Gillespie to bring a new coach to the NCA’s High-Performance Centre.
“Jason Gillespie has played a lot of cricket and has also had a great coaching tenure with Yorkshire. But please don’t do such things in Pakistan. He is from Adelaide and brought someone from Adelaide for the role of NCA’s High-Performance Centre coach. Are the PCB officials sleeping? The NCA coach doesn’t even know how to do drills properly. He was previously removed from Adelaide,” Basit Ali added.
Pakistan will be captained by Shan Masood.
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