SOHAIL_BACKS_WAQAR_29MAR1996

29 March 1996

Sohail backs Waqar Younis

Sports Reporter

KARACHI, March 28: Newly appointed Pakistan captain Aamir Sohail has thrown all his weight on speed merchant Waqar Younis whose image as a lethal bowler was severely dented after the beating he received in the World Cup quarter-final earlier this month.

"He (Waqar) is a great bowler with more than 200 wickets in both the levels of the game. He is too fine a bowler to be lashed out," Sohail said. Sohail stressed that since Waqar Younis made his debut in 1988-89 he has won Pakistan countless matches single-handedly. "If he was struck for 40 runs in two overs against India, that does not prove that he is a spent force. It was his bad day. After all, this is one-day cricket."

The left-hander felt that Waqar Younis appeared to be a much better bowler in the World Cup. "If you compare Waqar`s performance before the World Cup, you will find that he has recovered from the nagging back injury. I don`t say that he is the same as he was known for, but he is making a rapid recovery," the skipper said, adding: "I have all the rights to believe that he will be in top form by the time of the England tour but for that we need to give him support and confidence."

Sohail admitted that Waqar Younis will be one of his winning bowlers. "I think every captain in the world would like to have Waqar in his line-up. Therefore, I consider myself to be lucky to have him."

Sohail was of the view that it was injustice to blame Waqar Younis for the quarter-final defeat. "It is another matter if the difference of defeat and runs conceded by Waqar was almost the same. But the entire team played badly. We all have learnt a lot from the experience and I am sure Waqar must have learnt as well. But as far as I and the Pakistan team are concerned, we all have confidence in the skills and calibre of Waqar."

Discussing the forthcoming tournament, Aamir Sohail agreed that Sri Lanka enjoyed the cutting edge. "They have played really good cricket in the past 12 months. And now that they have won the World Cup, they could be a hard nut to crack. However, we are better than India because except for the defeat at Bangalore, we had been beating them repeatedly for the past few years. Secondly, they would be under more pressure because back at home, they suffered more."

The captain said the Padang Stadium was a small ground which gives Pakistan a good chance to regain confidence and winning touch. "We have excellent batsmen and bowlers while Sri Lanka and India have good batting line-ups but have little weak bowling departments."

The skipper was optimistic that from the Singapore event, Pakistan will be back on its winning ways. "I am confident and so is the team. It has been a long bad patch which will hopefully end from this tournament."

Meanwhile, the Pakistan cricket team had net practices in the morning at the National Stadium..

The camp was supervised by assistant manager Salim Yousuf in the absence of Intikhab Alam who was yet to arrive in Karachi. However, indications are that he will join the team on Friday. Accord- ing to sources, Intikhab is on the bed side of his niece who is suffering from cancer and will be operated on March 31.

The Pakistan cricket team will have final training session at the Defence Stadium on Friday morning. They then leave for Singapore later in the day.

Source :: Dawn Group Of Newspapers (https://www.cricket.org/link_to_database/SUPPORT/DAWN/)