ISLAMABAD: Owing to the rising number of coronavirus cases in severalcountries of the world, including Pakistan, Asian Bradman Zaheer Abbas hascautioned the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) about holding the remainingPakistan Super League (PSL) season six matches, saying that theextravaganza must go on only if the situation is controlled.
The former International Cricket Council (ICC) president said if thesituation does not normalise, then the league should be postponed.
“India also had to postpone the Indian Premier League (IPL) due to theworsening COVID-19 situation, which is why we should be careful as well,”cricketpakistan.com.pk quoted him as saying.
Abbas, who scored 5,062 and 2,572 runs in 78 Tests and 62 ODIs,respectively, also praised the Pakistan team’s performance and their starbatsmen, skipper Babar Azam and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, during therecently-concluded Africa tour.
“I watched the matches against South Africa and I can happily say that thePakistan team is steadily rising in stature.
“Mohammad Rizwan has been batting really well,” he said, adding that he didnot expect him to improve his batting suddenly while playing internationalcricket.
“Thankfully, we now have someone other than Babar who can support thebatting department. If we can get two or three more batsmen like Rizwan andBabar, then our team will become one of the best in the world,” he said.
Abbas added that Babar is leading the side and is also batting really well.
“This a great sign for Pakistan cricket. A captain should lead from thefront and Babar is doing exactly that,” he said.
Abbas also believes that young batsman Haider Ali wasn’t able to performwell due to a change in his batting position.
“I think Haider Ali did well as an opener which is why he was selected forthe national side but in international cricket he bats down the order.”
“This change in batting position can unsettle players and that couldpossibly be the reason behind the dip in Haider’s form,” he said.
“Being a young player, I don’t think he should have been dropped from theside.”
He said the batting coach should have worked with him with regards tobatting in the middle order.
We had high expectations from Haider which is why it would have been betterto give him a prolonged run rather than dropping him from the side,” hesaid.