Former Pakistan greats Imran Khan and Wasim Akram on Tuesday blamed selectors for the first Test defeat against the West Indies saying that a lack of good bowlers lost them the chance of a series win.
“It was over confidence reflected in dropping Shoaib Akhtar. The West Indies were rated as the third from bottom and against them we lacked a wicket-taking bowler,” Imran told AFP.
Pakistan dropped Shoaib from the 17-man squad on fitness grounds, and also said the fast bowler needed to improve his attitude. “It’s a fundamental rule in cricket that you never underestimate your opponent. Pakistan did underestimate the West Indies, there was complacency,” Imran added.
Pakistan, riding high after their 3-0 one-day series win over the West Indies, got a crushing blow with a 276-run defeat on the fourth day of the first Test at Barbados on Sunday. Pakistan have not won a series in the West Indies in their previous five tours. They now face a tough task of squaring the series with the second and final Test starting at Jamaica on Friday.
"Pakistan committed one of the most bizarre mistakes of dropping Shoaib. Mohammad Sami got injured so where were the bowlers to get the opposition out
twice?" said Imran, who served as captain when Pakistan levelled the series 1-1 in the Caribbean in 1988.
Wasim also agreed Pakistan needed a wicket-taking bowler on flat West Indies pitches and criticised selectors for dropping Shoaib. “One-day cricket is different. In the one-dayers Pakistan had bowlers who bowled 10 overs and took wickets but in Tests you need to get 20 wickets and there were no bowlers to bowl the opponents out twice,” said Wasim who took 414 wickets in 104 Tests for Pakistan.
"We’ve never been able to win a series in the Caribbean and thought that this was our golden chance.
But from dropping your main players, to poor management, we have spurned that chance," Wasim added.
Re: Imran, Wasim say Pak selectors underestimated WI
Yes the defeat was primarily because of the poor batting display but you can’t call the current pakistani test bowling attack a reasonable attack. Don’t forget an average batting line up like WI were in positions to score 400+ in both innings.
So many times in the past we have seen our team coming back by dismissing a side on a low score in the second innings and making a match out of nothing.
I guess its about time that shoaib akhtar should get a chance. He should be reconsidered once PCB review his performance in england.
Re: Imran, Wasim say Pak selectors underestimated WI
They are “past” greats, start listening to “present” greats like Inzamam, Bob. Both Wasim and Imran are forgetting that it was our batting which let us down. Imran should mind his politics and Wasim his commentating and wine ads.
Re: Imran, Wasim say Pak selectors underestimated WI
Captain,
I beg to differ with u on “present” greats. Inzi may be a great batsman, but as test team captain he is probably the worst Pakistan has had in recent history. As for Bob, well iam not sure where u got that tag for him, cause South Africa is still searching for the holy grail.
Test cricket is all about specialists, in batting and bowling. You cannot expect to win test matches with a one day outfit. Sometimes lucky doesnt mean lady luck will smile on u every time. Batting did fail Pakistan, but so did the bowling department. take the example of Edward Fidel, he was a one man army for WI, had it not been his heroics of the first inning, score line wud hv looked a lot more healthier for Pakistan.
Imran and Waseem together have more than 600 test wickets and God knows how many one day wickets, similarly they are the two captains who have captained Pakistan atleast 70 times in test cricket and 100x in One day cricket. There is no harm in listening to two legends of our time, they have no animosity or grudges to bear, why the anger towards heroes like them?
Re: Imran, Wasim say Pak selectors underestimated WI
^ cuz Imran leaves no opportunity to backup Shoaib Akhtar no matter what, and Wasim was not greatest of captains either, he was a great bowler I agree. Fidel taking 5 wickets then Gayle taking 5 wickets can also be seen as our batsmen failure.
Re: Imran, Wasim say Pak selectors underestimated WI
Its not about winning or losing the next match. The fact remains that our current test bowling lineup is not upto the standards. Evey mature cricket fan realized after the end of the Banglore test that what happened on the final day was something which cannot happen on regular basis. It was a special performance that day. The circumstances were different and the oppositions were different. You can’t judge and evaluate on the basis of one test match. Unfortunately we forget the negatives which are associated with a victory and stick to them. Captain I guess you have started smoking pot again. They are past greats and stop listening to them and listen to greats like inzi. Whats that suppose to mean? Don’t tell me that you are comparing imran and inzi and then saying kay listen to inzi and ignore imran. If tomorrow PCB is going to hire imran or wasim (inshallah) as the bowling coach, you mean to say that will be a bad move since they are past greats, what do they know about cricket anymore. This is the problem with our country, with our system and with people, we treat our heroes like trash. Pathetic comment.
Re: Imran, Wasim say Pak selectors underestimated WI
Fartgru, rehnay day yar, hamaray captain bhai nay bol dya hay kay wasim aur imran tu pagal hain un kee baat kon sunay:smack2:. Bat sunnee hay tu inzi kee suno.
Waisay yarr aisaa comment tu captain bhai hee day saktay thay:mudhosh:
Re: Imran, Wasim say Pak selectors underestimated WI
fkhan2 seems like you love pot too much. Don't associate me with stuff like that as I'm not from your "qabeela". I'm sure you also love to hear what Intikhab Alam, Sarfaraz Nawaz and Javed Miandad have to say every now and then, do as you please.
Hiring of Wasim or Imran as bowling coach is not going to happen as much as we all would like it, but that would be because of their "specialty".
They have been great bowling asset of our team thats why we have overlooked our batting most of the time they have been with our team and we didn't focus much on grooming batsmen. We have been lucky to find talented batsmen in Miandad, Inzamam, Youhanna, Saeed Anwar and all, but when these talents failed, our bowling greats usually covered that up..... Perhaps this is why Wasim and Imran want Shoaib in the team so he "may" rescue in such situations.
Re: Imran, Wasim say Pak selectors underestimated WI
---------------cvabn---------------------
True !
And when these people talk we should pause and listen.
Those who say that it was the ‘Batting’ that failed and not the ‘Bowling’ read on,
During the last test match I commented some where that THIS BOWLING attack has succesfuly taken all WI wickets in an inning which is an achievement on its own,BUT
I never thought it was approprite or required to ADD, that YES! they did take all 10 wickets but at a very HIGH PRICE,which the Paki BATSMEN might not bid for,
and thus caved in.
SO YES! BOWLING WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS LOSS and others.
On the contrary the Batsmen despite being understrength did a heroic job to salvage their pride,
Re: Imran, Wasim say Pak selectors underestimated WI
Acha tu app beghair kuch lagiey hee aisee baat kartay hain. This is even worse than i thought.
I agree that our bowling has covered and overcome alot of over batting defeciencies in the past. I know you have to focus on grooming the batsmen as well at the same time. But what is so wrong if someone like imran or wasim are trying to say that listen your bowling lineup still has some fire power so why don’t you guys use it properly.
Why are you trying to forget that an average WI lineup almost scored 400+ runs in both innings. I hope you remember matches in the past where over bowlers use to demolish the opposition batting in their second innings after a mediocre batting display by pakistani in the first innings and making a match out of nothing. Imagine the same in the last match. WI getting out on 125 or 150 in the second innings and giving us a target of 325 or 350 to chase.
Re: Imran, Wasim say Pak selectors underestimated WI
Reality bites. Go back, read your past posts and you will realize what a big dopehead you are. Your credentials are impressive enough to give you a spot in PCB or selection committee
Yes, he has done it alot of time. But how would you remember. You were high at that time and must be thinking that why is this baseball match so different from the typical baseball.
