Iqbal Qasim: “We don’t have bowlers of the calibre of Sarfaraz Nawaz, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar or Shoaib now. So, we should be banking on our spinners to win us Tests at home”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan left-arm spinner Iqbal Qasim has conceded that the men in green don’t have any fast bowlers that are at the level of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Imran Khan and Sarfaraz Nawaz.
Those five players were all considered to be special talents as they had raw pace, could swing the ball, and were reliable wicket-takers.
Looking at the current pace attack, Iqbal noted that the speedsters are not going the job done. As a result, he advised Pakistan to start relying on their spinners when playing on home soil.
“We don’t have bowlers of the calibre of Sarfaraz Nawaz, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar or Shoaib now. So, we should be banking on our spinners to win us Tests at home,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan recently faced Bangladesh in a two-match Test series and suffered a shock 2-0 loss.
Many of the national players are now involved in the Champions One-Day Cup, which is a domestic 50-over tournament that is being played in Faisalabad.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a three-Test series against England, which is scheduled to take place from October 7 to 28.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi