Mohammad Yousuf: “As you mentioned the middle order, scoring quick singles are very essential for them”
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Iconic Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf said it is essential that the middle order batsmen keep rotating the strike through quick singles.
Pakistan’s middle order has been one of their weaknesses for quite some time as the batsmen have been unable to score runs on a consistent basis.
In order to rectify the issue, Yousuf recently held a camp where the batsmen were made to play sweep shots and run between the wickets.
“As you mentioned the middle order, scoring quick singles are very essential for them. We held a camp and in one of the nets we were directing the players to play sweep shots,” Yousuf, who is the national team’s batting coach, said on ARY News’ show Bouncer as quoted by A-Sports.
“Because, as per my cricketing knowledge, when a batter plays a sweep shot to spinners, the bowler then will either bowl a full length delivery or a rather short-of-length delivery. So, this variation in the pitching of the ball, allows the batter to score freely and the rotation of strike also gets easier.”
The men in green are currently playing a seven-match T20 series against England and are 3-2 ahead.
Once this concludes, they will feature in a T20 tri-series against New Zealand and Bangladesh in Christchurch from October 7 to 14.
Pakistan also announced their side for the 2022 T20 World Cup, which will take place in Australia and start on October 16.
Pakistan’s Squad for England Series: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Haider Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Aamer Jamal, Iftikhar Ahmed, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Haris, Khushdil Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shan Masood, Usman Qadir, Abrar Ahmed
Pakistan’s 2022 T20 World Cup squad: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Usman Qadir
Reserves: Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Haris, Shahnawaz Dahani