Current Pakistan batsmen playing for themselves, not for country: Mohammad Yousuf
Karachi [Pakistan]: Former Pakistan skipper Mohammad Yousuf believes that senior batsmen in the current Pakistan ODI team are "batting for themselves and not for their country" and are "putting their own averages ahead of the team's requirements". While speaking to pakpassion.net, Yousuf said that senior Pakistan batsmen, who have enough international experience, were looking like rookies in the recently-concluded ODI series against West Indies. "With all due respect to the West Indies bowlers, the fact is that Pakistani batsmen should be scoring at a much better rate than they have in the One-Day series. Looking at the line-up of the West Indies, their bowling attack is incredibly weak yet our batsmen are batting in such a cautious manner," the former right-handed batsman said. "The rookies in the West Indies batting line-up like Jason Mohammed are looking like they have been playing international cricket for years and the experienced Pakistani batsmen who have been playing international cricket for a while are looking like rookies," he added. When asked if complacency was an issue with the Pakistani batsmen, the 42-year-old said, "I give the example of Steve Smith. He entered international cricket as a bowler and now look at him, he is one of the best batsmen in the world. If he can do it, then anyone can do it." He asserted that the problem with the batters in the current Pakistani team was that they complicate batting and make it look more difficult than what it actually is. "Teams are scoring six-hundred runs in a One-Day international across the two innings. If people had said that a few years ago nobody would have believed them," he said. "As I say, batting is not a difficult art if you keep it simple and that is where our batsmen are struggling," he added. He went on to say further, "The biggest problem is that the Pakistani batsmen are batting for themselves and not for their country. The passion, the patriotism isn't there in the senior Pakistani batsmen." He asserted that the senior batsmen in the current ODI team were putting their own averages ahead of the team's requirements. "It seems like they are more interested in scoring a fifty than they are in ensuring that Pakistan wins. In the modern game, playing a selfish innings of forty or fifty runs at a strike-rate of seventy five doesn't help anyone," he said. "Our batsmen in the modern game achieve a strike-rate of eighty 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, a 90-Test veteran, said that current Pakistan batsmen enjoy batting against the spinners, but when they face a fast bowler bowling at a brisk pace, they can't even put bat to ball. "We are not seeing enough of these match-winning innings from our batsmen. Our batsmen's eyes light up when they see spinners, yet when they face a bowler who is bowling at eighty-five MpH or more then they can't put bat to ball," he said. —ANI
