Saturday, 1 September 2012

Whatmore hails Shafiq as future of Pakistan cricket



Pakistan team head coach Dav Whatmore has expressed his faith in young batsman Asad Shafiq, terming him the “future” of the team.

“Shafiq is a very good player and is the future of Pakistan. Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal are also young. So we have some wonderful players,” Whatmore said, expressing confidence in the team’s potential to excel in the years to come.

Shafiq, a 26-year-old right-hander, played domestic cricket for Karachi before being picked for the Asia Cup 2010 on the strength of his performances, going on to make his debut during an ODI against Bangladesh in June 2010 at Dambulla. Since then he has gone on to play a total of 16 Tests (with 894 runs to his credit at an average of 42.57), 34 ODIs (903 runs at an average of 30.10), and 10 T20Is (192 runs) for the national side.

Currently involved in Pakistan’s limited-overs series against Australia in the United Arab Emirates, Shafiq made a valiant effort by scoring a half-century (56) during the first ODI of the 3-match series, at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on August 28.

He was joined at the crease by youngster Umar Akmal (52) for a 61-run stand – however, their efforts eventually went in vain as Pakistan succumbed to a 4-wicket defeat, following pacer Mitchell Starc’s brutal assault (10-2-42-5), and half-centuries by both Michael Clarke (66) and George Bailey (57*).

However, in addition to praising the feats of the youngsters, Whatmore (who coached a young and inexperienced Sri Lankan side to World Cup victory in 1996) also stressed on the need for improvement, pointing out that the batsmen needed to learn to adapt to different circumstances.

“Players must be able to read the game properly and, if they can do that, they will be in a much better position to respond with appropriate tactics,” he stated.

Following his valiant performance in Sharjah, Shafiq crumbled after a mere 9-run contribution during the second ODI at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on August 31, bowled by James Pattinson. However, aided by a brilliant, match-winning innings by Nasir Jamshed (97), Pakistan were able to claim a 7-wicket win and level the series.

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