"I am proud of our bowlers. I have not come to hide from anything" : Waqar Younis

[MenInG]

Pakistan’s bowling coach Waqar Younis, in a press conference at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday, claimed that he was satisfied with the performance of his fast-bowlers, despite the recent two-nil Test series whitewash against New Zealand, while stating that the team was on the right track.

The 49-year-old believed that the circumstances did not allow them to prepare the players in a more complete way for the Tests against New Zealand.

“I am proud of our bowlers. I have not come to hide from anything. The tour was tough. There were issues stemming from the coronavirus. We played well in the first Test while in the second catch we dropped catches and had issues with the no balls. We will perform well against South Africa. We will keep making progress in the future. Naseem Shah has performed well at home and has also taken a hat-trick. He is learning fast. Other bowlers have also had massive improvements despite the epidemic,” Younis said.

“There are also rumours of not including the coaching staff in the selection of the playing XI which are just rumours. We try to prepare the players for the tough circumstances of Test cricket but the conditions did not allow us to fully prepare them,” he added.

The former pacer revealed that he was saddened by the way fast-bowler Mohammad Amir left international cricket.

“Talking to the Cricket Committee was reassuring. The former cricketers asked great questions and we discussed all matters related to cricket. These meetings should be a constant feature. I have been under pressure all my life,” he said.

“I was one of those individuals that was in favor of Mohammad Amir’s comeback into the side. Now the situation is saddening. If you aren’t in form, than you try to come back into it. I was saddened with the way Amir left cricket,” he added.

https://cricketpakistan.com.pk/en/ne...ht-track-waqar

[Bilal Ahmad15]

He is satisfied with the performance of the fast-bowlers? Really? Even Naseem Shah?

And when he was talking about Naseem Shah, he didn't even mention anything about his performance in New Zealand, just talked about how he got a hat trick and performed at home... The usual stuff

[Hyperion66]

Mamoon is right as always, this is just celebrating mediocrity nothing else.

[ishtiaq_ctg]

'Other bowlers also had massive improvements'.
Reminds me of the essays we had to write in the school days. No matter the situation, we were obliged to write, 'My country is massively improving in all the fields of agriculture, industry and education.'

[Shazzam]

Seems like our coaching staff has been watching a completely different cricket match.

[jazbati]

What a shameless individual. What strides did he make in his coaching? He keeps saying that he's given his best when he was the captain and then coach but he hasn't done anything.

Being a great bowler doesn't mean you'll do the same in coaching. Rehne de bhai.

[Omer2002]

Naseem didnt look fit but neither did anybody else.

But if you look at the bigger picture apart from Jamieson they didnt have any threatening bowlers either. No body was bowling in 140s consistently from their end either.

Thats not to say Naseem did look awful actually every away tour he has but i am hundred percent sure its to do with short run up there is no rythm at all

[observer1]

Im not sure why people are surprised a bowling coach is backing his bowlers.

He only answers to his immediate supervisor or the board. Its 2021, yet some are surprised why he didn't throw his bowlers under the bus.

[Rellu_Katta]

like many, waqar is an amazing talent with pathatic personality ....

he really is shameful idiot to make this statement ...

[observer1]

like many, waqar is an amazing talent with pathatic personality ....

he really is shameful idiot to make this statement ...

Which bit is "pathetic" or "shameful"

[TheSultan]

This is a common theme now - if all else fails blame covid/pandemic/ etc.

For Misbah and Waqar it was "no cricket in Pakistan" before. That excuse is not possible anymore so the "covid situation" is the new game changing excuse.

Very disappointing.

The only positive aspect of this statement is that he is not demoralising the bowlers where Misbah is always willing to throw players under the bus.

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Waqar and Misbah have got their stories aligned - and have sold it to PCB's new team as well.

It was the pandemic.

Smart.

[Varun]

Sounds like a call center these days.

"You may experience delays or non resolution due to safety measures taken in light of the Covid pandemic. We appreciate your support."

[Markhor]

Are these the massive improvements Waqar is talking about ?





We've the worst Test bowling attack after Zimbabwe, and the worst bowling display by a Pakistani side in New Zealand, and Waqar claims to see massive improvements ? I'm not expecting him to blast the bowlers publicly but don't insult peoples' intelligence with these lame excuses.

Every single one of his coaching tenures has ended in flames, and this inevitably, is turning out no different.

[UzmanBeast]

Are these the massive improvements Waqar is talking about ?





We've the worst Test bowling attack after Zimbabwe, and the worst bowling display by a Pakistani side in New Zealand, and Waqar claims to see massive improvements ? I'm not expecting him to blast the bowlers publicly but don't insult peoples' intelligence with these lame excuses.

Every single one of his coaching tenures has ended in flames, and this inevitably, is turning out no different.

Spot on.

How can you claim that the bowlers are improving when Naseem's bowling average deteriorated from 34.6 before the series to 42.5. Is he blind? That's a severe regression, one that should see the back of Naseem Shah immediately.

[BunnyRabbit]

'Other bowlers also had massive improvements'.
Reminds me of the essays we had to write in the school days. No matter the situation, we were obliged to write, 'My country is massively improving in all the fields of agriculture, industry and education.'

Lol. Beat me to it.

[mazkhan]

Waqar is just there to just take his pay cheque he failed at coaching long ago.

As long as he toes the line and does not go off script his job will be safe

Real question is who is really behind these selections , there is no way I'm buying its waqar , he is an experienced player in the past one of the best fast bowlers during the 90s , atg stats performances that have given us great memories , brilliant memories in sharjah , he rubbed shoulders with some of the greatest cricketers in history against great teams , does one really believe its waqar who would be backing likes of wahab , naseem, musa
And overhyped rock thrower rauf.

Even shaheen is hit and miss and nothing special atm , junaid khan and amir had better test performances than shaheen.

Shaheen has potential but he's not that good like people make him out to be , he is prone to lose the plot and then get smashed . Theres more chance shaheen becoming a junaid and his career tailing off than rather taking off and him becoming a mitchell starc

[Yk313]

Pakistan’s bowling coach Waqar Younis, in a press conference at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday, claimed that he was satisfied with the performance of his fast-bowlers, despite the recent two-nil Test series whitewash against New Zealand, while stating that the team was on the right track.

The 49-year-old believed that the circumstances did not allow them to prepare the players in a more complete way for the Tests against New Zealand.

“I am proud of our bowlers. I have not come to hide from anything. The tour was tough. There were issues stemming from the coronavirus. We played well in the first Test while in the second catch we dropped catches and had issues with the no balls. We will perform well against South Africa. We will keep making progress in the future. Naseem Shah has performed well at home and has also taken a hat-trick. He is learning fast. Other bowlers have also had massive improvements despite the epidemic,” Younis said.

“There are also rumours of not including the coaching staff in the selection of the playing XI which are just rumours. We try to prepare the players for the tough circumstances of Test cricket but the conditions did not allow us to fully prepare them,” he added.

The former pacer revealed that he was saddened by the way fast-bowler Mohammad Amir left international cricket.

“Talking to the Cricket Committee was reassuring. The former cricketers asked great questions and we discussed all matters related to cricket. These meetings should be a constant feature. I have been under pressure all my life,” he said.

“I was one of those individuals that was in favor of Mohammad Amir’s comeback into the side. Now the situation is saddening. If you aren’t in form, than you try to come back into it. I was saddened with the way Amir left cricket,” he added.

https://cricketpakistan.com.pk/en/ne...ht-track-waqar

Sounds very much in line with what I had mind. He will not take names or comment on poor performances on an individual basis, *especially if he has been assured of his tenure at the helm by the PCB. If he had been told to pack up and leave, this could have been a different story.* All good to be professional now because he’s staying.

Did anyone ask him how he’s managed to improve Naseem so much in such limited time, by the way? Action, run-up or anything?

Anyone ask about Abbas having been blunted? Or SSA’s old ball skills or away swinger with the new ball?

Only specific questions with precise wording can stir this person. If Waqar had any Waqar, he would not have returned for the umpteenth time.

[Kroll]

And of course, coronavirus has affected only team Pakistan's preparations.

[Ami]

Im not sure why people are surprised a bowling coach is backing his bowlers.

He only answers to his immediate supervisor or the board. Its 2021, yet some are surprised why he didn't throw his bowlers under the bus.

Spot on ...or as Waqar would say, right on the money!

[Saj]

I was one of those individuals that was in favor of Mohammad Amir’s comeback into the side

Regarding this part and to be fair to Waqar- he has always backed Amir and in fact backed him to return to international cricket despite being Amir's coach when the pace bowler let him down in 2010.

[Doc77]

As always hiding behind a bunch of pathetic excuses. Its the same routine - before series promise the world and how they are going to fight and do really well......loose matches/series as a result of poor performance....come up with pathetic excuses such as poor prep, we had injuries, we drop catches!!!!

If Waqar and Misbah had any self respect and dignity they would have resigned. It's really sad as they are destroying the image we had of them as great players.

[ManFan]

Waqar is just a poor coach. He’s not a revanchist like Misbah.

[Golden arm]

Naseem didnt look fit but neither did anybody else.

But if you look at the bigger picture apart from Jamieson they didnt have any threatening bowlers either. No body was bowling in 140s consistently from their end either.

Thats not to say Naseem did look awful actually every away tour he has but i am hundred percent sure its to do with short run up there is no rythm at all

Even Jamirson was not super quick. It was just the height and awkward bounce with difficult lengths which made the difference.

[Romali_rotti]

Waqar needs to do the opposite and hide from the team and stay the hell away, far far away. Pakistan has not been good under him.

[silent ischemia]

To be good at coaching you don't need to be a star fast bowler of the past. Look at Bharat Arun, India bowling coach. Almost an unknown commodity in the international cricket circles but what he has achieved is amazing. We have third string bowlers in Australia and they're challenging the home side. It's Waqar's third stint as bowling coach/coach and each time his performance has been poorer than before

[Savak]

Im not sure why people are surprised a bowling coach is backing his bowlers.

He only answers to his immediate supervisor or the board. Its 2021, yet some are surprised why he didn't throw his bowlers under the bus.

He didn't have to throw the bowlers under the bus, but how about putting your hand up and admitting that i have failed to improve the bowlers so far

[Yk313]

He didn't have to throw the bowlers under the bus, but how about putting your hand up and admitting that i have failed to improve the bowlers so far

How about not saying that? How about keeping the door open to another stint a few years down the road?

It is very rare in PAK to take responsibility prior to accepting a job and then owning your achievements and failures.

Even in Misbah’s case it was Wasim Khan who actually said that both roles going to Misbah will mean he alone is responsible. It was not Misbah who said anything like that, if I am not mistaken.

Leave the door ajar.

[Jabo]

my comments get deleted but this guy is a disgrace

and it's funny how some of you bash him on here but when it comes to the interview
you don't challenge him about how he has been stealing from the pcb and the fans
2x coach and he is probably the worse out there
just loves to get paid and get that senior role and then that's it

he has no care for the future of Pakistan cricket
he just wants his money

[Savak]

Surprised Mamoon hasn't come here and said "Predictable for posters to be directing their anger, frustration at Waqar rather than facing the reality of the mediocre, talentless bunch of bowlers he has to play with. The problem is not Waqar but the delusional fans who have no accepted the reality that the bowlers in the team, outside the team, in domestic cricket, on the streets are all garbage and even the best coach in the world cannot do anything with our mediocre players. And yes all this domestic cricket structure 6 teams, high performance drama director of this, director of that, mark my words, nothing will change in Pakistan Cricket, we will continue to be a mediocre bottom ranked team, we can never catch up with the rest of the world, embrace it, Pakistan does not have the divine right to be an exciting and top cricket nation"

[Ellipsism]

Surprised Mamoon hasn't come here and said "Predictable for posters to be directing their anger, frustration at Waqar rather than facing the reality of the mediocre, talentless bunch of bowlers he has to play with. The problem is not Waqar but the delusional fans who have no accepted the reality that the bowlers in the team, outside the team, in domestic cricket, on the streets are all garbage and even the best coach in the world cannot do anything with our mediocre players. And yes all this domestic cricket structure 6 teams, high performance drama director of this, director of that, mark my words, nothing will change in Pakistan Cricket, we will continue to be a mediocre bottom ranked team, we can never catch up with the rest of the world, embrace it, Pakistan does not have the divine right to be an exciting and top cricket nation"

“We deserve this humiliation”

[Mamoon]

Surprised Mamoon hasn't come here and said "Predictable for posters to be directing their anger, frustration at Waqar rather than facing the reality of the mediocre, talentless bunch of bowlers he has to play with. The problem is not Waqar but the delusional fans who have no accepted the reality that the bowlers in the team, outside the team, in domestic cricket, on the streets are all garbage and even the best coach in the world cannot do anything with our mediocre players. And yes all this domestic cricket structure 6 teams, high performance drama director of this, director of that, mark my words, nothing will change in Pakistan Cricket, we will continue to be a mediocre bottom ranked team, we can never catch up with the rest of the world, embrace it, Pakistan does not have the divine right to be an exciting and top cricket nation"

If you are going to post on my behalf in every thread then maybe I should call it a day. However, your post is pretty accurate and this is what I would have said had I seen this thread earlier.

I would also add that not only are the bowlers talentless, Waqar himself is a talentless coach. A good coach can maximize the ability of a good bowler, but he is someone who will fail to deliver with good bowlers as well, let alone with rubbish like Naseem etc.

Shaheen is clearly a good bowler but you can see that Waqar cannot even get the best out of him.

Waqar is sweating bullets because he seems to be losing his job for the thousandth time. He is running from pillar to post to keep his job as a bowling coach and praising the bowlers (while abusing them in his heart) is his tactic of keeping his post.

[Savak]

If you are going to post on my behalf in every thread then maybe I should call it a day. However, your post is pretty accurate and this is what I would have said had I seen this thread earlier.

I would also add that not only are the bowlers talentless, Waqar himself is a talentless coach. A good coach can maximize the ability of a good bowler, but he is someone who will fail to deliver with good bowlers as well, let alone with rubbish like Naseem etc.

Shaheen is clearly a good bowler but you can see that Waqar cannot even get the best out of him.

Waqar is sweating bullets because he seems to be losing his job for the thousandth time. He is running from pillar to post to keep his job as a bowling coach and praising the bowlers (while abusing them in his heart) is his tactic of keeping his post.

I don't agree with the thought that a good coach cannot get the best out of a not very gifted bowler. Abbass in an interview credited Mohd Asif for the improvements he made to his bowling. If you look at the PCB video which shows how Waqar is going about his business in the nets, all you see is Waqar saying Shabaash to Wahab and the other bowlers after every delivery, well bowled even though these guys were not even bowling to a batsman.

Mohd Asif in an interview also mentioned how clueless and pathetic this looked. Asif talks about keeping things very simple in cricket and that in order to create maximum pressure on the batsman, make him play at every delivery. Asif was very gifted in setting up batsmen, he knew how to use the crease, when to come close to the stumps, when to go very wide of the stumps. I saw it one game against England in 2016 against Marcus Trescothick where Asif bowled 5 deliveries close to the stumps and moved the ball away from the left hander i.e. Trescothick but for the 6th delivery, Asif went wide of the crease which completely changed the angle, line of the delivery and Trescothick ended up edging the delivery to the keeper. On the tour Waqar even told commentators that i have never ever come across such a bowler who is naturally blessed with the bowling art of knowing how to take wickets, i don't have to teach him anything, in fact i am enjoying just watching him bowl myself.

My concern is that Waqar himself in his prime from 1989 to 1996 relied purely on his pace, inswinging yorkers where he didn't really have to worry about setting the batsmen up, in the second half of his career from 1997 to 2003 when he completely lost a yard and a half of pace, he was a totally new ball dependent bowler who could no longer get wickets with reverse swing, the older ball and batsmen found it a lot easier to attack him, he lacked the art of setting up batsmen consistently. If the fast bowling coach himself lacks this, what can he really teach the junior bowlers under him? Its been a year and a half since he took over and none of the bowlers can even reverse swing the ball

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD — After going seven months without seeing his family while living in a bio-secure bubble and travelling the world as Pakistan’s bowling coach, Waqar Younis is finally getting to spend some time at home.

The 49-year-old Waqar has been kept busy, touring England before his team went on to host Zimbabwe and then visited New Zealand for another series of matches.

Pakistan played two tests in New Zealand but the former fast-bowling great was allowed to return home after his side lost the first game by 101 runs, in order to spend some time with his loved ones ahead of this month’s home series against South Africa.

“I didn’t see my family for the last seven months and got permission from the cricket board to spend time with my family,” Waqar told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore on Wednesday.

“Cricket is not the end of the world. There are also other things in life which are important.”

Pakistan lost the recent test series to New Zealand 2-0 and the Twenty20 encounter 2-1, and Waqar said it was especially tough for the players to go through 14 days of quarantine which limited them to their hotel rooms.

“Medically it’s proven that if you are closed in a room for one day, you have wastage of two days’ muscle,” Waqar said. “They are top athletes, they needed to be trained every day so these issues were also there, because of which we couldn’t win.”

Waqar and head coach Misbah-ul-Haq were summoned by the Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesday to explain the team’s results, but both men will be given another chance in the home series against South Africa before their performance is re-evaluated.

Pakistan lost the test series in England 1-0 before tying the Twenty20 encounter 1-1. It then beat Zimbabwe in both the ODI and T20 series.

“It’s a performance-based (job) whether you do coaching or play international cricket,” Waqar said.

“If you give good results, you will keep getting opportunities.”

Pakistan’s fast bowlers struggled in the tests against New Zealand, losing both matches by heavy margins, with young pacemen Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi unable to generate the same speeds as New Zealand’s Kyle Jamieson and Neil Wagner.

But Waqar says taking 20 wickets in a test is more important to him than relying on the pace of a fast bowler.

“Pace is important, and I understand that if you have it, it’s good, but for me how to get 20 wickets is more important,” he explained.

“If he is bowling at 140kph and not getting wickets, it’s useless, but if he is bowling at 120kph and taking wickets, it’s good to me.

“We also had issues of no-balls and dropped catches. We didn’t perform the way we would have wanted.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...ccb_story.html

[Babar_Azam_fan]

Corona lockdown so we didn’t win. Smh
If no lockdown Pak would’ve won 2-0

[observer1]

If you are going to post on my behalf in every thread then maybe I should call it a day. However, your post is pretty accurate and this is what I would have said had I seen this thread earlier.

I would also add that not only are the bowlers talentless, Waqar himself is a talentless coach. A good coach can maximize the ability of a good bowler, but he is someone who will fail to deliver with good bowlers as well, let alone with rubbish like Naseem etc.

Shaheen is clearly a good bowler but you can see that Waqar cannot even get the best out of him.

Waqar is sweating bullets because he seems to be losing his job for the thousandth time. He is running from pillar to post to keep his job as a bowling coach and praising the bowlers (while abusing them in his heart) is his tactic of keeping his post.

I think it is high time you called it a day.

If you think they're so talentless and dre so bitter with them, why are you even here ?

Also how do you know what is in Waqar's "heart"? You're letting your emotions get the better of you

[Majid Khan]

Agree, we should also be proud of the Pakistan football team , especially the strikers. They are trying their best too I’m sure, so what if they are not good enough.

[MenInG]

Waqar Younis on Amir:

"He is undoubtedly a brilliant player and I was sad when he decided to quit international cricket"

“I was one of those people who fought the most for his comeback. I talked to Najam Sethi and players about how he deserves another chance.”