Saim, Usman should open innings: Jalal

KARACHI: Pakistan’s former Test cricket Jalaluddin has said that Saim Ayub and Usman Khan should open the innings against India.

The defeat of Pakistan cricket team against USA was shocking and humiliating and there is no option but to defeat arch rivals India in the next match to wash this stain and to survive in this event, he told The News on Friday.

Selectors took a lot of time to announce the T20 Cricket World Cup squad, said Jalal, a highly qualified coach, who runs a cricket academy in Houston. Pakistan was the last cricket team in 20 participating countries in the world cup, who announced the squad just a few days before the event due to which players were shaky till the last moment about their selection and lost their confidence, he said.

He said that neither batting nor bowling worked against USA. Even the body language of Pakistani players was not positive, he added. Jalal said that the match against India was crucial and it would be do-or-die situation.

He was of view that Pakistan cricket history is that they always bounced back. They should go all out against India, take some bold and out of the box decisions because some time situation in the modern days cricket demanded bold and prompt actions to get the results in favor. Jalaluddin said that USA cricket team who is a developing and playing first time in such a big event played with planning and confidence and did not come under pressure.

He said that the poor selection of the players and not utilising the players according to their skills is a weakness of Pakistan cricket team management. He said that Azam Khan’s selection was a wrong decision, and sending Iftikhar to face the first ball of the super over proved a wrong decision. He said right now Pakistan has nothing to lose. Thus, they should go all out against India to survive in the event, he said.