Waqar Younis: “I’m seeing medium-pacers or slow-medium pacers, all-rounders, there’s no real pace. People used to come and watch Pakistan pace bowlers really running in hard and bowling 150 clicks [kph], and that’s what I’m not seeing there”
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Legendary Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis has admitted that he is extremely concerned about how slow the current pace attack is bowling.
He noted that back in the day, the men in green were known for their express fast bowlers, many of whom were capable of hitting speeds over 150 kph.
In the recent three-match Test series against Australia, he pointed out that all the seamers were falling well short of the 150 kph mark and questioned why this was the case.
“Another thing that I’m worried about is that always when we come to Australia, one thing that excites is the fast bowling and this time around I’m not seeing that,” he said on ESPN’s Around The Wicket show as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“I’m seeing medium-pacers or slow-medium pacers, all-rounders, there’s no real pace. People used to come and watch Pakistan pace bowlers really running in hard and bowling 150 clicks [kph], and that’s what I’m not seeing there.”
Waqar added he is more concerned that there are no exceptionally fast bowlers in Pakistan’s domestic set-up, signalling that the country is losing one of the core advantages it used to have – a plethora of blisteringly quick bowlers.
“That’s my worry and issue because I have not seen it at the domestic level also. There are a few injured, I can understand, but in the past you would always see a battery of fast bowlers that they could always bring on, but unfortunately that is not there and I’m really worried about that,” he said.
Pakistan were beaten 3-0 in their Test series against Australia and then succumbed to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of New Zealand in their five-match T20I series.
Many of Pakistan’s players will now be involved in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), which will take place from February 17 to March 18 in four cities – Lahore, Multan, Karachi and Rawalpindi.