It helps me a lot when we have local coaches as communication is easy, admits Yasir Shah

After three years of experimenting with Mickey Arthur and a support staff crew dominated by foreigners, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has finally appointed Misbah-ul-Haq as head coach cum chief selector. Before Arthur, Pakistan had hired the likes of Bob Woolmer, Geoff Lawson, and Dav Whatmore – all foreign coaches. However, the recent revamp of the coaching staff is a welcome change for the 33-year-old Yasir.

“It has helped me a lot when we have had local coaches because they help a lot. I can say that Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed helped me a lot when they were with us. With foreign coaches, I feel it becomes a bit difficult due to communication issues. At times I couldn’t convey what I wanted to discuss across to foreign coaches,” Yasir told PTI.

Although Yasir has found great success in Test cricket – fastest to 200 Test wickets – the same is not the case for him in the limited-overs format. 

“That is true I have struggled in white-ball cricket due to reasons. In the World Cup, the weather and pitches were not ideal for leg-spinners and other bowlers also struggled from other teams. Leg-spinners can’t be successful on every pitch and in Australia there was bounce but the ball didn’t grip to get a break,” Yasir said.

At 33, Yasir is currently working hard to maintain his fitness and touch peak form as Pakistan head into a fixture-list packed with Test matches. He further added a note of gratitude for all the help he received from the late spinner Qadir.

“Qadir bhai was an institution in the art of bowling leg-spin, googlies and flippers. I remember once asking him why I couldn’t bowl googlies like he did and he said my fingers were small. But one learnt a lot from. Bowlers from other teams also sought his advice I think that shows what a world-class bowler he was,” Yasir added.