ICC World Cup 2019 | Pakistan need to shed off their inconsistency, says Waqar Younis

Pakistan have always been a mercurial side and have punched way above their weight in ICC tournaments. The side has traditionally been inconsistent, a tag that follows them from the 1970s until today, as pointed out by the legendary pacer Waqar Younis.

“It’s a cliché but we’re back to that word with Pakistan – inconsistency. It is a very difficult thing to answer because Pakistan have always been like that. It is not something new. If you go back to the 1980s and even 1970s, it has always been the same. I think it goes back to the system and the way we are brought up in Pakistan. We pick very young players and they don’t always come through a controlled system. Everyone is different,” he said, reported Scroll.

“Some disappear quickly because they struggle to handle the pressure and are replaced by another young guy but those who do handle it just carry on and become greats of the game. There are a lot of examples of guys like that, such as Wasim Akram, myself and Inzamam-ul-Haq. We hardly ever played first-class cricket before making our international debuts. Once you get through your first couple of years of international cricket, you never look back,” added the former skipper.

The Pakistan batsmen had no answers for the fiery bouncers bowled by West Indies in their campaign opener on May 31 and were thereby bowled out for just 105 runs. The West Indies further shamed them by chasing down the target in 13.4 overs despite losing three wickets. The sixth-ranked side were in a losing streak of 11 matches and were up against top-ranked England. However, the Sarfaraz Ahmed-led side stunned everyone by a contrasting performance where they blasted 348 runs and restricted the hosts to 334 in their 50 overs. Waqar reckoned that the side wanted to prove a point and came out strongly.

“Against England, they rebounded superbly from that opening loss to the West Indies. The capability is there, and they have the capacity to do special things. They need to be positive in every game. There is no doubt they were hurt by what happened against the West Indies and they came out to prove a point,” he expressed.

Pakistan will take on Sri Lanka at Bristol today. The island nation had lost eight matches on the trot before they defeated Scotland in an ODI game prior to the World Cup, followed by losses in both warm-up matches and a ten-wicket defeat against New Zealand in their campaign opener. They were dismissed for 201 even against Afghanistan in a rain-marred encounter but dismissed the latter for 152. Both the teams find themselves in similar position, as pointed out by Waqar.

“Now, it’s time for another big game against Sri Lanka. I saw them take on Afghanistan and don’t think they are a team that need to be feared. However, Pakistan cannot take them lightly. Sri Lanka are not playing their best currently, but that does not matter. That win would have cleared their minds and, like Pakistan, they will be brimming with confidence. When you have a bad start and then win a game, you start to feel good about yourself,” he explained.

“Pakistan’s fixtures get interesting from here with Australia and India, who are both playing well, on the horizon. They are both formidable sides and so a win against Sri Lanka is important for us."