Pak batsmen cannot hold nerves even for 2 sessions: Inzamam
Former Pakistan captain and current chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq has said Pakistani batsmen cannot hold their nerves for "even two sessions" in a match, which is "unfortunate". "Even when they were in strong position, our batsmen could not show aggression...If that is the standard of our consistency, it is not good enough at the international level," said Inzamam.
Pakistan batsmen weren't aggressive enough while the bowlers looked jaded, contributing to a whitewash in the three-Test series against Australia, chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq has said."First of all we couldn't play well under pressure and twice our batsmen failed to hold their nerve for even two sessions of the day which is quite unfortunate," he said, as quoted by Pakistan daily Dawn on Sunday."Even when they were in strong position, our batsmen could not show aggression. In Brisbane they scored with an average of 3.1 and were even slower in Melbourne. The Australians on the other hand were aggressive, scoring at times at almost eight runs an over," he said. (Misbah-ul-Haq bemoans bowling flaws in Pakistan's series loss)"When you go on the defensive, it allows the opposition bowlers to dominate you and that's what happened with our team." Inzamam said only Azhar Ali, who has been in fine form for Pakistan, was consistent with skipper Misbah Ul Haq failing to contribute at all."Our key batsmen like Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq and others just played a couple of good knocks in the three Test series and only Azhar Ali was consistent with more good knocks. As for Misbah, he failed to play even a single good innings," rued Inzamam. (Sydney Test: David Warner, Josh Hazlewood star as Australia complete 3-0 whitewash vs Pakistan)"Now if that is the standard of our consistency, it is not good enough at the international level. Our bowlers might have been experiencing fatigue as no bowler could take five wickets in an innings which was sorry to see.""Our main bowlers have been playing regularly in the last three series and the fatigue could have affected their performance," he added.Reliance on spinner Yasir Shah has been excessive, another factor in Pakistan's losses."We have also been overtly relying on leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who had emerged as our main bowler in the past few series. But he failed miserably in Australia and generally all our bowlers conceded too many runs," the former right-hand batsman pointed out."I feel that the bowlers, if they were not getting wickets, should have at least tried to control the flow of runs but that did not happen." (Australia rest Hazlewood for opening ODI, Pakistan recall Hafeez)On skipper Misbah looking helpless at times on the field, Inzamam said: "Look, when your team is not performing and you are also struggling with the bat, the pressure is doubled and Misbah is also passing through the same situation."