F.P. Report
CHRISTCHURCH: Pakistan cricket team’s bowling coach Shaun Tait said that he was pleased to see the way Pakistan bowled against Bangladesh on Friday in the inaugural match of the tri-nation series.
Responding exclusively to Geo.tv’s questions, the former Australian cricketer said that following the 3-4 defeat in the series against England, the bowling unit got together and chatted about how to lift their standards again.
“I thought were a little bit short with the bat today,” he said.
“I think we were a bit inconsistent in the England series, especially towards the end of the series. We chatted about it today just lifting our standards again. I feel like today we did that. We bowled pretty well, Wasim Jr bowled some good yorkers in the death overs which was really pleasing to see,” the bowling coach said.
Pakistani bowlers managed to restrict Bangladesh to 146/8 in 20 overs and help their side win by 21 runs after the batters had scored 167/5 from 20 overs.
Pakistan played Shahnawaz Dahani and Wasim in their final XI in place of Mohammad Hasnain and Naseem Shah in the game against Bangladesh.
Talking about preferring youngsters over regular bowlers, Tait said that it is important for other players to get game time as well.
“It’s our depth on display. The last sort of month we’ve done some rotating as well and some guys got game time which is important as well and it is great for Wasim and Dahani’s experience,” the bowling coach said.
“The more they play, the more they’re going to learn and the better they’re going to become. The guys behind Shaheen, behind Haris and then Naseem have stepped up and they have done quite well,” he added.
Tait said that the series in New Zealand ahead of the World Cup is important for Pakistan and it will help the players prepare for the mega event.
The bowling coach further said that winning in New Zealand will be a positive thing for the side going into the 16-team-event.
“Every win brings that good feeling to the dressing room, that’s only a positive going into a World Cup,” he said.
“New Zealand nowadays are a tough team anywhere in the world, and especially at home, they’re going to be tough to beat. But we’re also pretty tough to beat ourselves,” he said, adding that tomorrow’s content is going to be big.
“It’d be interesting to see how guys back up from today going into tomorrow’s match. New Zealand are going to be one of the favourites for the World Cup and playing them now is going to be good for us,” he concluded.
