Pakistan played fearless cricket against SA: Waqar

ISLAMABAD: Former Skipper Waqar Younis on Monday feels Pakistan played fearless cricket against South Africa in the 2019 Cricket World Cup match saying the green-shirts badly needed such a win.

Waqar said Pakistan were not worried about losing the match to South Africa, which in turn gave them the freedom to pay their natural game.

“Pakistan had been criticised a lot for Old Trafford loss against India and the last week has been hard on them, so coming out of that and producing such a performance was particularly pleasing,”  ICC press release quoted Waqar said.

He said Haris Sohail, was a breath of fresh air. “He played magnificently well, and ultimately, his innings of 89 off just 59 balls was the difference,” he said and added other players got runs but his knock was the icing on the cake because Pakistan have needed someone to come in at five or six and up the ante.

Waqar said Haris batted very well, and it was a different Haris Sohail to the one I have seen before.

“Haris has always been a very conservative and technically sound batsman but against South Africa, he took the mantle and played in a very different fashion,” he said.

For me, Waqar said he is my No.4 batsman in the team because he is technically sound and you can give him more overs to build that innings.

“He and Babar Azam could really complement each other. They both have a habit of making hundreds and could push the run rate also,” he said.

He said we have also started to get the old Mohammad Amir back, where he is got that mojo of swinging the ball back into the right-hander.

“It’s not swinging massively, but the line is right and that’s his strength. Amir is picking up wickets on a regular basis now and that really gives him that confidence to go out and be himself,” he said.

Waqar said he enjoyed watching Shadab Khan and Imad Wasim as they controlled the middle overs while also picking up wickets.

“They never allowed the South African batsmen to settle, and as a result the Proteas were always under pressure,” he said.

He said though qualification is still up in the air for the semis, but I would like to see Pakistan play the same way in the coming matches.

“There is not much time between now and the next game against New Zealand, but I think they will stick to the same team unless there’s a real difference in the pitch,” he said.

He said before going to Birmingham, Pakistan will be closely watching England against Australia on Tuesday.

“That will be crucial, particularly if Australia beat England. Pakistan will be hoping and praying for an Australia win as that would be best for their own qualification hopes,” he said.