Miandad hints of a comeback (10 March 1999)

10 March 1999

Miandad hints of a comeback

Our Sports Reporter

Pakistan coach Javed Miandad is very happy and pleased with his team's performance in the Asian Test Championship so far.

The former Pakistan great, who scored 8,832 runs in 124 Test matches, was talking to a group of reporters at the Sonargaon Hotel yesterday morning.

"This is a new concept in cricket and I'm quite happy to take my team to the final," said Miandad.

When asked about Sri Lanka's strength after the inclusion of Aravinda de Silva and Chaminda Vaas, Miandad said, "I don't know because I have played cricket and I know it doesn't make any difference because you have to go and play. I tell my team you just go and try your best, doesn't matter who is going to play against us. We have to look after our side on our part."

About his team's relaxed performance against Sri Lanka, which helped the islanders to collect the required bonus points to qualify for the final, Javed said no team wants to throw anything to their opponents.

"It may be according to the media, but I don't think in cricket anybody likes to throw their wicket specially in Test cricket. And I knew long time back that whatever game we were going to play, people will talk. If we would have lost the match, people would say the same thing. Even they (Sri Lankans) got the points, people are talking the same. So we were not concerned about what people were saying. We were only concerned about the match and we played that with good spirit and it was a fair game," Miandad said.

"You must give credit to the other team as well. The same team (Sri Lanka) played against India and they played quite well. Ranatunga did not score in that match and Aravinda also did not do well. These youngsters in the Sri Lankan team are really good," he added.

When asked to comment on two youngsters Wajahatullah Wasti and Imran Nazir, Miandad termed them as the future prospects of Pakistan cricket.

"They are not the replacements of Malik and Sohail, they are just upcoming cricketers. We gave then chances and they have proved their worth," said Miandad

About the bonus point system introduced in the Asian Test Championship, Miandad was quite happy.

"Whenever you try anything new, people will always talk because they are not used to it. When they will be acquainted with the system they will stop talking and there will be no more complaints," said Miandad.

"We played in England with the same rules in the County championship. Besides, we practise the same in our domestic cricket. I remember my days in County cricket. We used to follow the same points system," Miandad added.

Finally, when asked about his recent comment in an interview that if Pakistan wanted he was ready to play again, Miandad said that no one can say 'no' to his country when it was required or asked.

"I'm always available for my country. If they require my service, I'm there. They wanted my service as a coach after I retired and I'm doing that. And if they want me as a player I will also do that. Why not?" added Miandad, saying that he was pretty happy with his job as coach of Pakistan.

Source :: The Bangladesh Daily Star (https://www.dailystarnews.com)