Pakistan needs to learn from past mistakes, says Azhar Mahmood

Pakistan had won T20 International series 2-0 in New Zealand.

Azhar Mahmood | AFP

Azhar Mahmood –former Pakistan cricketer and bowling coach, is very impressed by the way the national side fought back in the T20I series after losing the ODI series to New Zealand 0-5, saying they just need to learn from their mistakes and not repeat them to become a successful team overseas.

According to a report in PakPassion.net, Mahmood said, “It goes without saying that a 5-0 defeat is a disappointment regardless of whichever format it happens in or who the opposition is. Whilst we lost 6 matches in a row, I was really impressed by the way we fought back in the T20I series. The victory in the T20I series shows the character and mindset of our side which is a huge positive and a very encouraging sign for us.

Having said that, it is also important that we must recognize that our batting has always struggled in New Zealand. Our bowlers, some of who were touring New Zealand for the first time, found it tough to adjust to the bowling conditions there. Strong winds were a problem for our bowlers, but I would still give them immense credit for making an effort to adjust to local conditions there.”

The 42-year-old went to further note that Pakistan needs to learn from their mistakes and improve for the future to have a successful overseas tour in the future.

He further added, “What we need to focus on is the fact that we made mistakes and we need to work on those problems and reduce those types of problems in the future. We have a tough tour of England coming up where we will play Test matches and after that we have to play against Zimbabwe and South Africa, followed by the 2019 World Cup.

All these tours will be in places which will be far different from the Asian/Sub-continental conditions we are used to. We will have to do our homework and preparations to make sure that we succeed away from home. Especially, our batsmen will need to think ‘out of the box’ in order to utilize their skills and score runs in overseas conditions.”

Former fast bowler is not impressed with Pakistan’s top-order in New Zealand, saying they need to put a better show in the future to win games for the national side, especially overseas matches.

Mahmood signed off by saying, “Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about our batsmen as none of our top-order batsmen could make any significant scores during the ODI series. If the top five or six batsmen do not score runs then you will always struggle as a team, regardless of the courage shown by the younger batsmen at the seven, eight, nine type positions which is a positive sign for us in the future.”

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 12 Feb, 2018

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