Pakistan batsman Usman Salahuddin: “He said that my technique was fine, my defensive game was very good, but It was just my strike-rate that they felt was my weak point”
Image courtesy of: Pakistan Cricket Board
Pakistan batsman Usman Salahuddin has revealed that head coach Misbah-ul-Haq told him to increase his strike-rate while batting as it was his weak point.
Salahuddin has a strike-rate of 41.23 in the 2019/20 edition of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, but increased it to 44.91 in the 2020/21 tournament.
While Misbah wanted Salahuddin to work on scoring at a quicker rate, the 30-year-old noted that the former captain said his “technique was fine” and “my defensive game was very good”.
“I had a conversation with Misbah-ul-Haq before the start of the season about what I needed to work on regarding my batting, as I needed to know where I was going wrong in his eyes,” Salahuddin told PakPassion. “He said the main issue was my strike-rate which needed to be improved as modern-day cricket has changed and he felt that I needed to up my game regarding this.
“So, I took that suggestion on board and I have made some changes to my game which I feel have helped me improve as a batsman. He said that my technique was fine, my defensive game was very good, but It was just my strike-rate that they felt was my weak point.”
In the 2020/21 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Salahuddin was the fourth-highest run-scorer with 924 runs in 11 matches for Central Punjab, which included a career-best 219 not out and eight half-centuries, at an average of 48.63.