Former Pakistan fast bowler, Umar Gul, has raised questions over the selection in the recently concluded series. The pacer has said that despite Pakistan having strength on the bench, out-of-form players were added to the playing XI which indicates a lack of future planning.
“Throughout the series, Pakistan had a bit of problem with the selection. Some players were out of form and did not have rhythm but they were not rested, especially because we had strength on the bench. Some were only featured in one game but were left out from the rest – this indicates a lack of future planning,” he explained.
Responding to Hasan Ali’s selection, Gul rued that Naseem Shah should have best tested in place of Hasan Ali. He further said that Hasan has won matches singlehandedly but his current fitness and rhythm do not allow him to be a part of playing eleven.
“Hasan Ali has singlehandedly helped Pakistan win matches but he came back after an injury following the PSL. It happens to players sometimes that they are out of form. Once you don’t have the rhythm and you don’t get wickets, it frustrates you as a bowler. Pakistan should have rested him and kept Naseem Shah in the team because he bowled extremely well in the opening Test match,” he added.
Umer Gul who was recently appointed bowling coach of the Afghanistan cricket team added that if Pakistan wants Shaheen Afridi to perform for a long time then they will have to allow other pacers to share his workload.
“Shaheen is Pakistan’s main bowler but in the future, the management needs to balance the load on him. Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim, and Shahnawaz Dahani can share his workload and he can continue to perform for a longer period.”
While answering a question regarding Pakistan’s comeback in the ODI series, Gul said that the only thing he can see is that Pakistan’s batters did not repeat the mistakes they committed in the first ODI.
“Our comeback in the ODI series was extremely good. We made several mistakes in the first ODI but team management and players eradicated those mistakes in the next two ODIs. We had a huge problem of run rate in the first game but the players worked on that and Babar, Imam, and Fakhar all played more aggressively, which is exactly what was required,” Gul stated.
While talking about the Test series, he said, “We lost the Test series because we did not capitalize on the home advantage. Our spinners should have performed better but the pitches were extremely flat. If you play at home then you need to ensure that you maximize on that advantage but we did not do that.”
