Image Source- ICC
The team isn’t yet losing sleep over the fact that
Pakistan’s powerplay batting hasn’t gelled in India, according to head coach
Grant Bradburn.
Those higher order queries are mostly the result of
Fakhar Zaman’s uninteresting performance. Since making an undefeated 180
against New Zealand in April, he has played 11 innings and has a maximum score
of 33. The team management maintains that they are not giving anything away for
the Sri Lanka encounter and are keeping all possibilities open.
“We’re well aware that the first phase of our
batting is not clicking as yet, which we think is a good thing, in a way,
because we have full trust in all of the guys who are capable at batting within
the powerplay,” Bradburn said. “And they’ve done it before. Over
perhaps the last period between World Cups, the top three have scored the majority
of our runs, which maybe is detrimental to other parts of our game.
“So, look, we’ve got full faith in our top order.
They will click at some stage. And we’re open and honest to say that we’re not
getting what we would like out of the powerplay as yet. But we’re certainly
very happy with other phases of our game which have kicked into gear and did
enough the other night to get over the line and create a W, create two points
for us coming out of that dressing room which was the ultimate goal.”
Giving players what they want during practise rather
than imposing a set of rules on the group was one of the topics Bradburn
discussed. Imam-ul-Haq, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan choosing to rest at
the hotel rather than pushing themselves during training on match day may be a
hint that they are putting this into practise.
“Our full trust is with our players in terms of
understanding exactly what they need,” Bradburn said. “Especially the
day before a game, to top off their training, to top up their training rather,
and just prepare themselves mentally and physically to put in what we want on
the park, which is commanding performances.
“We want our players to produce impact
performances. It’s not about them individually anymore. It’s about us as a
team. It’s about us extracting another two points. And that’s our sole mission.
We put full faith in the players to know exactly what they need to do to
prepare. And some have chosen to prepare in other ways other than taking more
energy out of their bodies today. From a coaching point of view, I’m very, very
happy with that.”