Woolmer praises Inzamam-Younis pairing

Bob Woolmer: 'Inzamam is a captain who thinks about the game, who is undemonstrative, who is calm' © AFP

Bob Woolmer, Pakistan's coach, has ranked Inzamam-ul-Haq highly as a captain and believes Younis Khan is the ideal foil to him as his deputy. In an interview, Woolmer said the two had completely opposite personalities but complimented each other perfectly.

"Inzamam is a captain who thinks about the game, who is undemonstrative, who is calm, cool and collected and almost laid back; Younis is the complete opposite," Woolmer said. "He is the dynamic, bouncy individual and combined with Inzamam's calmness; it is perfect for the team."

Woolmer praised the captaincy of Inzamam and said he had grown into the job. "He is a very experienced cricketer but it doesn't matter who you are; you have to grow into the role of a captain; you are not brilliant from the word go," he said. "Anyone in the world has to grow into his team to grow as a captain. Inzamam has performed magnificently as a batsman. It has been the highlight of his captaincy."

He pointed out the team loved and adored Inzamam. "He's nurtured my vision and built that with the team. The team belongs to the captain and country and not to the coach. The coach is just there to try and facilitate the needs of the team," he noted.

Woolmer said the one-day series defeat against India had been a wakeup call for the boys.

"Since that defeat their attitude has been fantastic. They've been trying very hard and have worked very hard. Sometimes defeat can be a good thing.

"[If] you win all the time and you tend to get over confident. You need to keep fighting and working. All the teams are now getting very much close together. The top eight are certainly are pretty much able to beat each other at any time. It's becoming far more exciting in terms of world cricket."

Woolmer, who took over as coach 18 months ago, said that he had realised there was a difference in the cricket cultures of Asia and South Africa and he was trying to marry them to get good results. "There is a difference, the important thing is to try to marry them with modern advanced technology.

"To a certain extent the Asian countries have been reluctant to come into the digital age. But there is a move to modernise the cricket society in Pakistan and in Asia where the players are getting far more information."

Woolmer also described the Pakistan public as fantastic. "We had very good crowds coming in to watch our recent matches at home and even in the Twenty20 tournament. That's always a good sign that people are happy with what is happening and what the players are doing."