Karachi : Pakistan’s former prolific Test batsman Zaheer Abbas believes that Pakistan cricket team always needed a batting coach and if Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had acquired the services of a batting coach then the results of the recently concluded Cricket World Cup might have been different.
“We clearly saw that our team struggled in the batting department during the World Cup matches. Bowlers did a great job but there were also loopholes in the fielding. However, it was batting, which let us down in the semifinal match against India. I was in favour of batting coach three years back and I still say that our team needs a batting coach,” the former skipper Zaheer Abbas told PPI.He said that he told top board officials to take the services of the batting coach three years back and if they had hired the services of a batting coach then than the results of the recently concluded World Cup might have been in favour of Pakistan.“Three years back, I told Intikhab Alam and Ijaz Butt that Pakistan cricket team needs a batting coach. But they didn’t take my advice seriously. If they had worked on my advice then I believe the results of the World Cup might have been different and moreover, Pakistan might have clinched World Cup!” said Zaheer, who had been fondly called as ‘Asian Bradman’.He said that batting coach is needed and if somebody says that the team doesn’t need one then that person hadn’t observed closely the mistakes, which Pakistani batsmen commit frequently.“If a player is doing some mistake then it doesn’t mean that he is not talented. The player only needsthe guidance to perform consistently with the knack, he had learned and because of which he has been selected for the team,” he said.The debate of a batting coach began when Pakistan cricket team skipper Shahid Afridi on his return from World Cup, where his side lost semifinal match to India, asked the board to hire some batting coach for the team.The board approached former skipper Javed Miandad, who said that he wouldn’t take the job before the West Indies tour, moreover, he said that he doesn’t see the need of two coaches at one time. But Zaheer Abbas categorically said that PCB should hire a batting coach for the team in order to liftits game.Zaheer further rejected the reports that he has been approached by the board with the batting coach offer.“No one from the board has approached me with the batting coach offer and therefore it would be too early for me to comment on it,” he said.
