Pakistan bowlers lacking variation: Jaffar

KARACHI (Monitoring Desk): Former Pakistan cricketer Saleem Jaffar is unhappy with the lack of variation on display by the Pakistan bowlers during the ongoing 2019 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup in England and Wales.

While talking to Cricket Pakistan in an exclusive interview, Jaffar said that Pakistan bowlers performance have not been up to the mark till now.

“Pacers needs to make use of variation in their bowling to survive in this tournament,” said Jaffar. “Although our pacers are delivering slower balls, but they are still not bowling any yorkers which is very surprising.” The 56-year-old was also surprised with the batting friendly pitches during Pakistan’s limited-overs series with England.

“The pitches in England during Pakistan series were extremely in favour of batsmen. Bowlers were not generating any movement in the air or off the pitch even with the new ball,” he said. “If the nature of the pitches doesn’t change during the World Cup, it will be hard work for the pacers.”

He added: “However, spinners can still be economical on such pitches and can save crucial runs.” Jaffar also believes that Men in Green are lacking a quality batting all-rounder who can provide balance to the side.

“It must be difficult for the team management to select the playing XI, as they have to sacrifice a batsman to play 5 regular bowlers, which can weaken Pakistan batting,” he said. “It would have been ideal for us if we had a batting all-rounder in our side who could bowl medium pace.”

Talking about his expectations from the Pakistan team in the 2019 ICC World Cup, Jaffar was hopeful that the team will put up a good show during the mega event. “I think Pakistan should reach the semi-finals since they possess a strong batting line-up, which can take advantage of the batting friendly pitches of England,” he said.

He will be taking charge as the new chairman of the junior selection committee from July 1, and is hopeful of unearthing new talent for Pakistan cricket. “It is a challenging task as players don’t have any previous records through which they can be judged. Hence, you need to have an eye to spot the talent and then back them,” he said.