Team with more youngsters wins big events: Waqar

KARACHI (PPI): Pakistan bowling coach Waqar Younis says that Pakistan has performed well in big tournaments like world cup or champions trophy events either with youngsters or a blend of youngsters and seniors players.

“Pick any previous big tournaments. Look at World Cup or Champions Trophy that there were either youngsters dominating or there is a blend of youngsters and seniors in the team when Pakistan performed well,” Waqar Younis said on Monday while talking to media via videoconference.

The former lethal pacer said that there should be rotation policy as they recently rested Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz while giving opportunity to Nasim Shah and others. “I have always supported the idea that youngsters should be kept indulged,” Waqar said.

Recently another former cricketer and renowned commentator Ramiz Raja has also advised veteran all-rounders Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez to hang their boots with dignity and don’t look for their place in squads for World T20 Championship, which will be held later this year in Australia.

Meanwhile, Waqar Younis said that there should be a policy which may restrict experienced players from avoiding exhaustive Test format right away.

“We can’t restrict players to play formats, which they don’t. There can’t be a law. But I would say that there should be a policy to avoid abrupt changes in the team after experienced players opt to retire from certain format,” he said.

He added that team’s performance in Australia might have been better if Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir didn’t opted out of Test format.

“However, I would repeat that the bench should be strong enough to endure pressure if some experienced player opt out of a certain format,” he said.

Waqar Younis, who is in Australia at the moment, said that the issue is not that serious Down Under at the moment with regard to coronavirus as compared to Europe or other places.

He added that he haven’t heard anything about World T20 Championship potential change of dates.