In an evaluation of Pakistan's performance in the ongoing Test series against Australia, ex-Pakistan coach Waqar Younis has voiced his concern about the conspicuous lack of speed in the Pakistan bowling attack.
Former pacer remarked that the dearth of rapid bowlers, with solely medium-pacers and all-rounders in the squad, deviates from the typically anticipated thrill of encountering lightning pace in Australia.
"Another thing that I'm worried about is that always when we come to Australia, one thing that excites is the fast bowling and this time around I'm not seeing that. I'm seeing medium-pacers or slow-medium-pacers, allrounders, there's no real pace. People used to come and watch Pakistan pace bowlers really running in hard and bowling 150 clicks [kph], and that's what I'm not seeing there," he said on ESPN's Around The Wicket show.
In the first Test at Perth, Pakistan's fast bowlers found it challenging to surpass the 140kph threshold. While they did create some discomfort for the Australian batsmen during the second innings, the noticeable absence of true pace was apparent. Pakistan endured a significant loss, falling by 360 runs, compounded by the unfortunate loss of debutant Khurram Shahzad to a rib injury that ruled him out for the rest of the series.
"That's my worry and issue because I have not seen it at the domestic level also. There are a few injured, I can understand, but in the past you would always see a battery of fast bowlers that they could always bring on, but unfortunately, that is not there and I'm really worried about that," he added.
He raised his apprehensions regarding Shaheen Shah Afridi's decline in pace which has placed the Pakistani bowling attack in a challenging situation.
"I'm not really sure what's wrong with him," he said.
"If he's not fit, if he's got some issues, he needs to go away from the game and fix that because if you are going to carry on like that you are going to become a medium-pacer. He used to bowl 145-150kph and used to swing that ball. What I'm seeing now, yes there's a little bit of swing but his pace is way down… and that is not going to get him wickets."
Looking ahead to the next Test at the MCG, Younis emphasised the significance of good fielding for Pakistan, highlighting the necessity to seize opportunities in order to remain competitive against the formidable Australian team.
"Watching the first Test match was painful. We had moments, we had opportunities where we could have pulled the game back a bit but we didn't take the opportunities. When Pakistan come to Australia they have to make sure their fielding is spotless… because Australia batsmen, if you give them opportunities, they'll take it with both hands and make it big and that's what we saw in Perth," he concluded.
- Waqar Younis
