Lahore, December 27: Lack of solid top-order batsmen in the national team has prompted PCB to pitch in former captain Saeed Anwar, who will hold a month-long specialist training camp for Pakistan openers here after the team returns from their Australia tour in February.
”I have decided to hold this training camp for openers after having discussions with the Chairman of the board, Ijaz Butt. He wanted me to help resolve the issue of the national team of not having a pair of reliable openers or good back up,” Anwar said.
The former left-handed opener Anwar feels that due to the lack of good solid openers most of the time Pakistan middle order batsmen were exposed to the new ball very early in the innings, which is damaging the teams cause severly.
He also stated that except left-handed opener Salman Butt all the openers needs to improve their technic and solidity. ”To be a successful opener one must have a solid technique and the patience and application to play long innings. The Pakistan middle order batsmen fail a lot of times because most of the time they are exposed to the new ball very early in the innings,” Anwar was qouted as saying by ‘The News’. ”Muhammad Yousuf is a case in point. He often has to come into bat when the ball is still new. In comparison you look at Ricky Pointing. His biggest advantage is that he comes into bat most of the time after good starts by their openers.
”It is always easier for a middle order batsman to negotiate and settle down to play a long innings when he comes into bat after a good opening partnership,” he pointed out.
Anwar, who has played 55 Tests and 247 One-day Internationals for Pakistan, said Pakistan faced problems in finding reliable opening pairs because at times a player was not given enough chances and secondly because in domestic cricket players didn’t work to remove any faults in their techniques.
”I prospered as an opening batsman after my first international tour because I knew I had to improve my technique and mindset to a great extent to be successful in the long run,” he added.
——Agencies