Pakistan has fighting chance to win Asia Cup: Ramiz (10 June 1997)

10 June 1997

Pakistan has fighting chance to win Asia Cup: Ramiz

By Ilyas Beg

LAHORE, June9: Captain Ramiz Raja has said that even depleted Pakistan cricket team had a fighting chance of winning the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka to be played from July 14 to 27.

During an exclusive interview with this reporter, Captain Ramiz Raja said that the main problem of the Pakistani players was that they lacked physical fitness. And that affected their game in all departments of cricket.

The Test opener said that the host Sri Lankan and Indian teams were very strong and tough matches were expected against them during the Asian Cup Cricket Tournament. He said that even the fourth participant team of the tournament, Bangladesh could also not be taken lightly. It had recently won the ICC Trophy and qualified for the 1999 World Cup Cricket Tournament. The Bangladesh side was fired up and very keen to perform well in the high-class competitions.

"Main strength of the Sri Lanka players lies in their supreme physical fitness. They train very hard in hot and humid weather of their country which makes them absolutely fit. That is reason why they do not face any difficulty in playing in any part of the world in any weather conditions. However, the most important factor of the Sri Lankan victories is the commitment of the team to carve out a place in the comity of cricket-playing nations for their Island. That motivates the players to give away their best. Even the Sri Lankan side has rubber-legged fielders like Captain Arjuna Ranatunga, Arvinda de Silva and Sanjeeva de Silva but the agility of the other eight players in the field never allows any team to take advantage of the shortcoming", said the Pakistan team captain.

While replying to a question, Ramiz Raja said that the absence of world-class cricketers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Mushtaq Ahmad and Ejaz Ahmad Senior would be seriously felt. But an effort would be made to pick the best-possible team out of the available lot of players. Keeping in view the weather of Sri Lanka and the strength and weaknesses of our own team and the opposing teams, a strategy would be worked out to get good results.

"The Pakistani players compete with missionary zeal while playing against the Indian side. If they inculcate that as a habit and play with the same spirit against all the teams, our side can give far better results. All the players must have in mind the mission to win every tournament. I am trying to help the youngsters in imbibing this spirit," said the determined Ramiz Raja.

The Test opener said that the Pakistani team was aggressive in attitude. Without curbing its quality it should also be groomed to meet every type of challenge at every stage of a match.

The Pakistani captain said that, with the blessings of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief executive Majid Khan, he was working on an idea that "all players of the team after a thorough discussion on all aspects of the game should evolve a code to be followed by all of them". "Every player should freely express his opinion during the discussions. The players must cover all aspects of the game while evolving a code for themselves. That should include physical fitness, mental toughness, behaviour on and off the field. Above all, the boys must think about ways and means to build confidence in themselves. They should imbibe the spirit of winning every tournament and fight to the bitter end to achieve that objective", said the philosophical-looking Ramiz Raja. The Pakistan team captain said that he would start holding meetings after coming back from India. The code would be evolved before the Asian Cup Cricket Tournament. A committee, consisting of the manager, coach, captain and a senior player would be formed which would implement the code in letter and spirit. Ramiz Raja said that he would suggest to the PCB that the code be adopted by all the first-class teams. That would ease the biggest problem. The players who would make their way into the national teams would be tuned up for the responsibilities.

Source:: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)