Sohail Tanvir: “I am glad that with Wahab Riaz’s inclusion in the side as well as Mohammad Amir”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Pakistan all-rounder Sohail Tanvir believes that the national team made the right choice in picking left-arm seamers Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz in the World Cup squad.
Amir initially failed to make the cut for the World Cup squad as there were concerns over the fact that since the conclusion of the Champions Trophy, he had only taken five wickets in 15 ODIs at an average of 92.60.
However, given the poor performance of Pakistan’s pace bowlers during the five-match ODI series against England, Amir was drafted into the side.
Wahab was initially not included in the list of 23 probables for the World Cup, but was the third-highest wicket-taker in this year’s Pakistan Super League (PSL) with 17 wickets in 13 games for the Peshawar Zalmi at an average of 19.88.
Tanvir also admitted to being pleased that spinner Shadab Khan is fit for the World Cup after he recovered from Hepatitis C.
“When the initial 17-man squad for the tour of England the the World Cup was first announced, I made it clear that there was a distinct lack of experience, especially in the bowling line-up, which could hurt Pakistan in the World Cup,” Tanvir wrote in his blog for PakPassion. “As we saw in the ODI series against England, there was no experienced bowlers in the line-up and that was demonstrated by the results.
“The fact is that when you come under pressure as a bowling side, then you need someone with experience who can help. It doesn’t matter how experienced your coaching staff is, as that will not help your bowlers in the field during the game.
“An experienced player, who has been through a similar situation in the past is what Pakistan need as that was quite apparent during the ODI series against England. Take the instance of the time when Jos Buttler was hitting our bowlers out of the park in the second ODI. If there had been an experienced bowler such as Wahab Riaz or even me, he could have guided Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi to bowl sensibly or may well have taken up the responsibility himself to take on Buttler in that situation.
“It does happen sometimes in games that a batsman is so dominant that nothing the bowling side tries seems to be working, or you as a bowler come in to a new over and get hit for a four or six in the first ball. In such cases, cool heads and experience dictate that you look to minimize the damage, instead of going for 20-25 runs in an over.
“But I am glad that with Wahab Riaz’s inclusion in the side as well as Mohammad Amir and [with] Shadab Khan’s recovery, this could be a different story once the World Cup starts.”
Pakistan will begin their World Cup campaign against the West Indies in Nottingham on Friday.
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