LAHORE– Despite the series loss to Australia, Pakistan’s bowling coachAzhar Mahmood was upbeat about finding suitable options and trying variouscombinations ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, which will be playedin England and Wales from 30 May to 14 July.
Pakistan lost by 80 runs in the third one-day international againstAustralia in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, giving the visitors an unassailable3-0 lead in the five-match series.
Azhar said losing the series was disappointing, but bowlers have done well.“It is very disappointing for us to have lost the series,” said Azhar.“But, the bowlers have bowled well. You must give credit to Australia.(Aaron) Finch has been phenomenal in this series,” he said.
Finch scored centuries in each of Australia’s eight-wicket wins in Sharjahbefore missing a third by 10 runs in Abu Dhabi.
Azhar said there were still positives for Pakistan. “There have beenpositives like Usman (Shinwari), who bowled well on Wednesday,” said Azharof the left-arm fast bowler who dismissed opener Usman Khawaja in the firstover on Wednesday.
“Junaid has come back well, young Hasnain bowled well. We have a fewpositives in batting with a couple of centuries in Sharjah. But, inWednesday’s match, we just did not click,” he added.
Azhar said there were a couple of places up for grabs for the World Cup,for which Pakistan have tried some players as potential options. “We aretrying different combinations keeping the World Cup in mind,” said Azhar,adding: “If we play only our main strength and then someone gets injured,we won’t have any options left. This series is our best chance to test thebench strength.”
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Pakistan will take on the Windies in the World Cup opener on 31 May atTrent Bridge. In the lead up to that match, Pakistan will play five 50-overwarm-up matches, five ODIs and a T20I (versus England). With Pakistan toplay a minimum of nine World Cup matches, the green shirts will feature ina minimum of 20 white ball fixtures in the approximately 10-week period.
Azhar denied there was any pressure ahead of the World Cup. “We are testingthe bench strength. We have seven players who are not here and they givestrength to our batting and bowling. We have one or two spots that are upfor the taking”, said Azhar adding “We are trying bowlers for the WorldCup. We know our main strength is bowling, so we have tried Yasir Shah,just in case we need an additional spinner as a wicket-taking option. Whenwe go to England for the World Cup, the wickets will be drier, so we wantto see if we can pick Yasir.
“We have tried our options and combinations to be certain and clear on whoare our bowlers for the available spots and this was the best occasion totry them.”
Azhar admitted Pakistan have only taken eight wickets in three matches butthat was due to unresponsive pitches. “If you see overall, then we have nottaken very many wickets. They also did not get wickets and we lost wicketsin the final overs (while batting). Sharjah wicket did not have anyassistance for bowlers. When we scored 280 and 284, they chased down in the49th and 47th overs, respectively,” he continued.
Azhar said, “Overall, I think we lost matches but we got to know about thestrengths and weaknesses of the bowlers and we will work in the camp onthose weaknesses.”
