Sport | Cricket
Four-Test series: England beware
Former opener Mudassar Nazar warns hosts of a resurgent Pakistan side following their victory against Australia
- By Rohan Alvares, Sports Reporter
- Published: 00:00 July 29, 2010
- Image Credit: GN Archive
- Nazar believes UAE is the best home for Pakistan
Dubai:Former Pakistan batsman Mudassar Nazar believes England will be wary of his country when the two sides meet in a four Test match series starting at Trent Bridge today.
Salman Butt's men came back brilliantly to level the just concluded two match series against Australia earlier this week and Nazar said the performance would not have gone unnoticed by an in-form England side.
"I'm sure they would be [wary]," Nazar told XPRESS yesterday. "You have to be mindful that Pakistan won on a seamer friendly wicket. But for a change, the Pakistan fielding was very good and I thought that was the main difference between the two teams."
Nazar was also impressed with the performances of Pakistan's youngsters like Azhar Ali and 20-year-old Umar Amin.
"Credit must go to Pakistan. They put in youngsters who showed great composure and carried the team through," he said however conceding that the English would represent a stiffer challenge.
"They are two sides with good bowling attacks. [England captain] Andrew Strauss is a tough competitor. He's got the experience of an Ashes victory behind him, while Butt is just beginning his captaincy career with a very young side.
"I think if Pakistan can get on top of Kevin Pietersen who is short of match practice, that will be crucial," said the former opener.
While many of Nazar's old peers hit out at Shahid Afridi's decision to relinquish the Test captaincy and subsequently retire from the five-day game bang in the middle of the Australia series, Nazar looked at it as a blessing in disguise.
"It actually worked out well for the system because he also made a slot available for someone else to come in," said Nazar also defending the team management's decision to leave out the experienced duo of Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan for the England series.
"Senior players cause mayhem. That's been the trend in Pakistan cricket since day one. I'm not saying they shouldn't come back. But if they came back now with Butt having just taken over, I don't think the team would have given the same performance."
Though Butt yesterday publicly nominated England as the ‘best option' for the team to play home series due to security concerns in Pakistan, Nazar who is based in Dubai as Head Coach of the ICC Global Cricket Academy still believes the UAE is the ideal choice.
"The UAE is still the best home for them. They will be playing on home pitches rather than alien conditions," he said.
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