Azhar Mahmood: Pakistan are blessed to have young wicket-taking bowlers

Azhar Mahmood has praised Pakistan for their incredible performance, while he also was all praise for his bowlers.

Pakistan have been on a roll, especially in the limited-overs format as they have been winning every series of late. It all started for Pakistan post their Champions Trophy 2017 title win in England, where they beat arch-rivals India in the final at Lord’s. Since then, Pakistan have won twin consecutive ODI and T20I series. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s bowling coach Azhar Mahmood has praised his side for their incredible performance, while he also was all praise for his bowlers. He said that the side was blessed to have a young bunch of talented and capable bowlers, who can deliver on the field, especially by taking wickets regularly. Mohammad Aamer’s workload needs to be kept in check: Yasir Arafat

On Pakistan’s approach in limted-overs matches

“It’s not rocket-science to realise that in the modern-day LOI game, where boundaries are small, and bats are big, it is absolute madness to think that you can simply contain a top-quality opposition team by drying out runs. The only real way to stop runs from being scored against you is by taking wickets. In this regard, we are very blessed that we have a bunch of guys who are wicket-takers and are able to effectively execute the plans given to them and deliver on the field. There is an amazing mind-set among these bowlers that they need to get the batsmen out and not just worry about containing them, which is very important for the team as a whole,” said Mahmood, as reported by ANI. Usman Khan out of action for 6 months due to stress fracture

On Pakistan’s bowling

“With this bowling line-up we are confident of taking wickets at every stage of the game regardless of how well the opposition is doing at that time. The proof of our recent progress is in the fact that in the last 9 ODI games, the most any team has scored against us is 236 which is a great sign for Pakistan cricket. On top of that, our bench-strength is improving rapidly with each back-up player who is called up performing really well when given the chance.”

On Pakistan’s recent Test defeat to Sri Lanka

“Obviously, we were thoroughly disappointed by the loss of both Tests in the home series against Sri Lanka, but the fact of the matter is that we did not bowl well in both innings of the Tests. Again, this is not an attempt to look for excuses, but the guys were playing Tests after a long time as our last game had been in May of this year and that rustiness showed up against Sri Lanka.”

About the Author