Sports
Pakistan rue lack of swing ahead of Bangladesh clash
‘We do rely on swing, but we haven’t experienced too much swing here’
October 30, 2023 | 11:58 PM
Lack of swing in India has taken much sting out of the Pakistan pace attack in the 50-overs World Cup, head coach Grant Bradburn said ahead of Tuesday’s clash against Bangladesh.Pakistan’s semi-final hopes hang in balance after just two wins in six matches and their bowling, usually their strong suit, has looked mostly pedestrian with Shaheen Afridi failing to produce his best form so far in the tournament."We have a great resource of fast bowling talent in Pakistan," Bradburn told reporters on Monday."We do rely on swing, but we haven’t experienced too much swing here."The balls are different. The conditions are different and certainly the ball tends to wear a lot quicker here."The 1992 champions lost speedster Naseem Shah even before the start of the World Cup through a shoulder injury and neither his replacement Hasan Ali nor Haris Rauf could fill that void.Pakistan’s batting has not been consistent either and Bradburn said one of the top four batters must bat deep if they were to put up big totals in their remaining matches."The one area that is key for us is to try and have one of our top four batsmen going through into the 40th over," he said."We’ve had batsmen that have gotten in and haven’t gone on. Those are some of the basics of cricket that are vitally important for us."Pakistan must win their remaining three group matches and hope other results go their way to make the last four, a situation Bradburn called far from ideal."We’re in a position that we didn’t want to be," the New Zealander said. "We were determined at this stage of the tournament to be in control of our destiny but we’re not. "That hurts the group and all we can do now is control what we can control, and that is prepare well for three remaining pool games and then allow fate to be hopefully leaning on us in terms of our semi-final hopes from there."Shakib says ‘talk is cheap’ as Bangladesh’s falls apartBangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan warned his players that "talk is cheap" and demanded they put words into action to rescue their battered pride at the World Cup. Bangladesh tackle Pakistan in Kolkata Tuesday having lost five of their six matches with virtually no hope whatsoever of making the semi-finals. "We discussed it, we had our team meetings, so we sat down, we talked about it, but we have to show it in action and that the talk is cheap when it’s not working," said Shakib."So, we’ll do it at the ground so the action can take care of it and everyone can see it. I mean, only we can change the situation of the team with our actions. So that’s what we are trying to do."Like his team, Shakib has struggled in India and was widely criticised for dashing home last week to work with his personal batting coach.In the five matches he has played at the World Cup, the 36-year-old veteran of 245 one-day internationals has mustered just 61 runs and seven wickets."There is a lot to play for. As you know, we have to win to be able to qualify for the Champions Trophy. That’s an important target I think we can set at this moment," said Shakib. The International Cricket Council on Monday announced the top seven teams plus hosts Pakistan will qualify for the Champions Trophy in 2025."We have to win. We have no other option and that’s what we would look to do," said Shakib whose team is ninth in the 10-team World Cup table with defending champions England at the bottom.
October 30, 2023 | 11:58 PM