We need to cover all bases before facing India: Intikhab: ‘Training on heavy outfield led to Shoaib’s injury’
Pakistan’s 3-0 victory over Chris Gayle’s men put them in fourth spot on the ICC One-day International team rankings after Shoaib Malik’s side won the final match on Sunday by 31 runs.
Intikhab, while expressing satisfaction in his first series after replacing former Australian fast bowler Geoff Lawson as Pakistan coach, admitted that there were a lot of grey areas that needed to be sorted out before the challenging home series against India.
The Indians are to play three Tests, five One-day Internationals and a Twenty20 International on their scheduled tour that begins from Jan 4.
“I must confess we have to work conscientiously so that we are well prepared for the Indian series. The task before us is to make sure we cover all our bases to challenge India,” Intikhab told Dawn. “The [Abu Dhabi] matches gave us the chance to improve our [ICC] ranking from sixth to fourth and the boys played well enough to achieve that objective.”
Intikhab said Pakistan’s fielding needed improvement after a spate of shoddy displays in Abu Dhabi. “Yes, it is obviously one area where we have to put in a lot of effort. The catching was appalling and the ground fielding was not up to the mark either. I’m sure that in the coming weeks, the lads will work hard in that regard.”
Intikhab said although lack of Test matches in 2008 has severely disrupted Pakistan cricket, he was optimistic of getting the players ready for the five-day games.
“We have chalked out some plans to prepare for the India Tests. And one of them is to play five-day matches between the national side and the Rest of Pakistan. Frankly speaking, that is the only way for us to help us in our preparation.”
On the issue of maverick pacer Shoaib Akhtar not being able to play any of the matches in the UAE contest, Intikhab said the 33-year-old speedster was not considered for the first two games after sustaining a calf injury before the series started.
“But he was declared fit for the third match. However, we decided against playing him because we didn’t want to do injustice to other bowlers. It was a unanimous decision taken by the team management not to play Shoaib in the last match,” Intikhab explained. “Contrary to media reports, Shoaib was definitely fit when we arrived in Abu Dhabi. The unfortunate injury was caused by the heavy outfield [at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium] during a training session. It’s always difficult for a fast bowler to train on such an outfield as the one there.”
Intikhab also defended the ‘poor run’ of all-rounder Shahid Afridi with the bat. The struggling all-rounder mustered just 38 runs in the series with his highest being 28 in the second game.
“He [Afridi] didn’t get the chance to play a long innings because in most games, he arrived in the middle with just a few overs left. He had no option but to go for quick runs,” the coach said of the 28-year-old player who has scored only 278 runs in 15 ODI innings (ave 25.27) this year with a highest of 85 against minnows Zimbabwe at Multan in January.
Besides, Afridi collectively mustered only 80 one-day runs against India, Sri Lanka and the West Indies in 2008 and bagged 30 wickets (28.36) this year but 22 of them came against weaker opponents such as Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Hong Kong.