Islamabad: Batting legend Javed Miandad has urged Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to establish a variety of pitches at different stadiums around the country, to prepare players for the 2020 ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup.
"Pitches should provide equal opportunities to batters and bowlers and should allow all disciplines in the game to flourish. PCB must prepare quality pitches around the country to prepare the players in all three departments for the World Cup," Miandad told APP.
Pakistan team failed in all three departments when was whitewashed by Sri Lanka 0-3 in the Twenty20 home series.
Miandad also asked PCB to appoint a specialized batting coach like Faisal Iqbal for the national team. "I think the board has overburdened Misbah by assigning him the dual responsibilities of head coach of all formats and Chief Selector," he said.
Miandad said the board had a best choice in the form of Faisal. "I think the board was reluctant to hire Faisal due to his relationship with me. But if you speak on merit, he deserves to serve as Pakistan's batting coach," he said and added Misbah needs someone like Faisal to assist him in batsmen's coaching.
"Faisal had done coaching courses from England and is the best possible option for the Batting Coach position," Miandad said.
Faisal had been the batting coach/consultant for T10 League Maratha Arabians, batting coach/consultant for Pakistan Super League (PSL) team Karachi Kings and batting consultant for UAE men's team for Emerging Asia Cup 2018. Faisal had also applied for the position when PCB advertised for the posts of head coach, bowling coach and batting coach but was unable to get the role.
The legendary batsman also urged PCB to hire the services of former cricket greats at regional level to train budding players. "We need to give authority to our local greats who can pass on their skills in the best possible manner to the players at regional level," he said.
Speaking about the upcoming series against Australia, Miandad said the only way to select players for the series should be merit and physical fitness.
To a question about underperforming skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, Miandad said we have no other option, we could replace him as skipper, however Sarfraz needs to improve his batting as he was struggling in the department.
