In an exclusive interview with PakPassion.net, Mohsin provided his views on the quality of cricket at the recently concluded Faysal Bank Twenty20 Cup, explained Umar Akmal’s non selection for the test series in Sri Lanka and also talked about his appointment as the interim coach for the series against Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates.

By Saj Sadiq (October  4, 2011)

The Pakistan selection committee headed by former opening batsman Mohsin Hasan Khan announced a fifteen man squad for the upcoming test series versus Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates.

In an exclusive interview with PakPassion.net, Mohsin provided his views on the quality of cricket at the recently concluded Faysal Bank Twenty20 Cup, explained Umar Akmal’s non selection for the test series in Sri Lanka and also talked about his appointment as the interim coach for the series against Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates.

“The Faysal Bank Cup was a very enjoyable tournament. The tournament was a great success for Pakistan cricket and the Pakistan Cricket Board. I would like to pass on my sincere appreciation to the organising committee, the management and very importantly to the ground staff at the National Stadium Karachi who prepared some excellent wickets in every match. There was not a single poor wicket throughout the tournament and given the short amount of preparation time that the ground staff were given for this tournament, it is indeed a wonderful achievement.”

“The tournament had to be organised at such short notice due to the Dengue outbreak in Lahore and it was shifted to Karachi to also help with the Flood Relief efforts. To make the tournament such a success after having only 3 or 4 days to prepare is commendable and hat’s off to all those that were involved in the organising of the tournament for doing such a wonderful job from start to finish.”

The Faysal Bank Cup saw some excellent cricket throughout and the quality was helped by the fact that all of the current international players appeared for their respective teams. A packed to the rafters National Stadium witnessed a nail biting finale on Sunday as the Shoaib Malik led Sialkot Stallions narrowly defeated the Sohail Tanvir led Rawalpindi Rams. Chief Selector Khan praised the quality of cricket on view and praised the skills on display, but expressed his hopes for an improvement in future of the standard of fielding in domestic cricket.

“We saw some young players and experienced players performing well in the Faysal Bank Cup which was heartening to see. This time around we didn’t necessarily find the dynamic young talent at the age of 19 or 20, rather there are a number of players who are in their late 20s and early 30s who showed their ability and talent in this tournament.”

“The tournament was very healthy as far as talent is concerned and we saw some wonderful matches and some superb players. It was great to see all the senior Pakistani players taking part in this tournament and this added to the interest levels and the competitiveness of the cricket. Putting everything together I think the tournament was a great success.”

“There was a lot of talented batsmen out there, the bowling talent was impressive. The wicket keeping was satisfactory with some of the senior wicket keepers particularly impressing me, namely Adnan Akmal and Sarfraz Ahmed. I also thought some of the upcoming wicket keepers showed a lot of promise too.”

“However I must express my disappointment at the standard of fielding throughout the tournament. Let’s not hide the facts, we shouldn’t just look at the positives, rather we should also look at some of the negative points in the cricket we all saw. There were a lot of youngsters taking part in the tournament but the levels of fielding were disappointing from many of them. The senior players during the tournament actually outshone the younger players when it came to fielding standards.”

“The fielding was undoubtedly the weakest facet of the cricket during the Faysal Bank Cup. It’s well known that the Selection Committee have put a lot of emphasis on improving the standard of fielding and I believe that fielding alone will cost you a match and I cannot stress enough the importance of good fielding. I’ve sat down with the respective coaches of the teams at the Faysal Bank Cup and stressed the importance and necessity to improve the fielding standards across all teams. I wanted to make a point of speaking specifically about the quality of fielding to the coaches to reinforce the message that I am trying to get through to the young and upcoming players in Pakistan. The coaches agreed with me and admitted that they have to work harder with their players in order to improve fielding standards, so that when their players are selected for international cricket, their ability in the field is good enough for top level cricket.”

Responding to a question about the omission of Umar Akmal, Khan explained the reasoning behind the selection committee’s decision to leave the 21 year old middle order batsman out of the test squad against Sri Lanka.

“Umar Akmal is undoubtedly a very talented cricketer, but the selection committee has been asking him to be more disciplined for test cricket. This is not an issue in 50 over or 20 over cricket, but he or any other batsman who wants to succeed in test cricket has to have discipline. We haven’t dropped him (Umar Akmal), rather I would say he has been given a signal to go to first class cricket, play some matches in the Quaid E Azam Trophy and develop himself by playing some long innings. We don’t just want wonderful 20s and 30s from Umar Akmal in test cricket, rather we want him to stay at the crease for long periods. If you score 15 or 20 runs and you are out to a good delivery, then that is tough luck, that is part of cricket, but once settled at the crease Umar or any other batsman for that matter, should not throw their wicket away once they have done the hard part and established themselves at the crease and laid the foundations for a big innings.”

“This is an opportunity for Umar to go away, work on his batting, learn and realise that test cricket is the toughest form of cricket and that it needs a lot of discipline and that test cricket is indeed a test of one’s talent, determination, concentration and patience. I want to reiterate we have not dropped Umar “in bad taste or bad way”, we have left him out to get the message to him to get some first class cricket under his belt, get some big scores and to prove to the selection committee that he is worthy of selection in test cricket once again, as soon as possible.”

Khan was appointed on Monday by the Pakistan Cricket Board as the interim coach for the series in the UAE against Sri Lanka, following Waqar Younis’ resignation due to personal reasons. The Pakistan Cricket Board opted to choose an interim coach for the upcoming series having not yet made its mind up on whom to appoint on a long term basis. Commenting on his appointment, Khan stated that “Yes it’s a big challenge, but one of the great satisfactions in life is when you have met a challenge head on and succeeded. During my playing days I faced some of the greatest fast bowlers of all time which was a huge challenge, but I faced that challenge and met it to the best of my ability.”

“Some opt for the easy option but I like to take on challenges and do my utmost to meet tough challenges. My aim is to serve my country in whatever way possible. I was asked to perform the role of Chief Selector and I am doing that to the best of my ability, now the Board have asked me to take on another commitment and that is the role of coach for the series against Sri Lanka and I will look to also meet this challenge. I will do whatever is asked of me by the Pakistan Cricket Board and to serve Pakistan cricket with sincerity and for the betterment of cricket in Pakistan. I’m hopeful that we will have a successful series against Sri Lanka and I look forward to working with the captain, players, the team management and all of the other support staff on that tour so that we can all build on the momentum gained by Pakistan cricket recently. It is my utmost desire to see Pakistan cricket continue to improve further and I will do my best to make that happen.”

Asked whether he would be interested in taking on the role of coach on a long term basis Khan stated “Well I’ve only been asked by the Board to perform the role for this series but if I feel that I am doing my job well and if the Board needs me to carry on then I am willing to do so. But after God, you are your own best judge, therefore I would want to judge myself after the series versus Sri Lanka so let’s see how that series goes before looking too far ahead.”

The test series versus Sri Lanka commences on 18th October at Abu Dhabi, with the second test starting on 26th October in Dubai, before the series is concluded in Sharjah with the final test beginning on 3rd November.