Islamabad: Disappointed with Pakistan team's poor performance against a second string Sri Lankan side who beat them 2-0 in the three-match Twenty20 home series, former skipper Rameez Raja said the Green-Shirts need a power-hitting coach to correct the direction of the players in the shorter format of the game.
Pakistan lost the first T20 to Sri Lanka by 64 runs while went short by 36 runs in the second game. "Misbah-ul-Haq has been over burdened by handing him the coaching responsibilities of all formats. I feel we need to bring in a power-hitting coach for the shorter format, to correct the direction of players," Rameez said on his YouTube channel.
Rameez, who appeared in 57 Test matches, said the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup was a few games away and if Pakistan won't select the right players for the game than the team would be troubled in the tournament.
"The result of T20 series was expected as Pakistan team was stressed after the losing the first game. Many old players were recalled in the T20 team but were unable to deliver under pressure," he said.
The cricket commentator said to open from Babar Azam was a mistake. He however lauded Imad Wasim's performance both with the bat and bowl. "Harris Sohail must be played at No. 4 as Sarfraz Ahmed was not in good form," he said.
Rameez, who played 198 matches, was of the view that Pakistan should bring in youth in the shorter format as T20 cricket was a young man's game. "We just hit two sixes in the second T20 game whereas Sri Lanka hit eight," he said.
He said Pakistan's bowling totally failed in the game as we were struggling badly. "We don't have any bowler who can take wickets," he said.
Former skipper and batsman Younis Khan, who became the first Pakistani and 13th ever batsmen to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket in April 2017, said we should improve the cricket structure to identify players. "I was identified in the under16 team by former cricketer late Taslim Arif. We need people like him in Pakistan cricket," he said.
Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar said it seemed like Pakistan's B team was playing against Sri Lanka. "Losing the T20 series was embarrassing. Giving the responsibility to only one person to save money would not lead to improvement," he said.
