Azhar calls for patience
sharjah — It is easy to sit on the other side of the fence and criticise when a team, which is going through a transition, is failing to produce results.
But Azhar Ali, Pakistan’s ODI captain, stands vindicated that his team has seen through the tough part and is beginning to show what they are capable of. And Azhar Ali called for a bit more patience and added that there is a lot more to come.
Azhar Ali’s appointment as captain after last year’s 50-over World Cup coincided with the team embarking on a tough rebuilding process. It meant that results were hard to come by with him winning nine games and losing 15 off the 25 matches in charge. Those results also left them languishing in ninth in the ODI rankings.
But Pakistan continued to show faith in the youngsters who had come in and although they had a disappointing series in England, the results are starting to show.
Pakistan have already won the ODI series against the West Indies with a match left to play and Azhar said that patience is a virtue.
“It is a collective effort,” Azhar said after his side won both the ODIs in Sharjah.
“It takes time for things to get better. We have to show patience. We had started rebuilding the team from 2015. To rebuild any team, you do need one and a half to two years and I feel that time is coming and we are slowly heading that way. The combination is working out well and like I said before, we are getting all-rounders who are giving us depth in the batting. So, when you want to score big, till you don’t have depth in the batting, no matter how many runs the top order scores, the finish wouldn’t be good. And you cannot score 300 or 300 plus. And when it comes to the bowling, the way plans are being executed over the past five games or so, I think it is a good sign. I think all these factors we are doing collectively. The attitude too is good. Obviously, when you win, the confidence level slowly comes up. So, wins are important and the way the boys have been playing over the past four or five games, it has been outstanding,” he added.
The team may have started to do well but there has been a bit of pressure on Azhar personally, as he failed to contribute with the bat. He has had a run of poor scores over a period of time but Azhar said that the time to rebuild was important no matter how many captains come and go.
“I feel this is the time span required to rebuild a team no matter how many captains you change. But if you want to rebuild a team, it would take one and a half to two years. We as a nation, don’t have patience because we want to win immediately. When a team is rebuilding, you have to play to lose also. But in our nation, when we don’t win, you easily get frustrated and suddenly you want to change everything. So, if you see any nation which has done well, it is because they have given the team time. And, we as a nation, and all the stakeholders should take up the responsibility. Otherwise, it is very easy to criticise and it is very easy to see things in hindsight. The most important people who play in the middle, need to be patient and need to play with a lot of confidence,” said the 31-year-old.