‘Set standards for selection’
YOUNIS KHAN WANTS PLAYERS TO BE PICKED FOR THEIR PERFORMANCE, NOT SOCIAL MEDIA PRESSURE
PAKISTAN’S batting coach Younis Khan last Saturday (17) said he was not in agreement with the way players were selected for the national team across formats. Speaking at a virtual press conference, the former Pakistan captain made it clear that a benchmark needed to be set to pick players for the senior team, particularly batsmen.
“We need to have a benchmark, to look at how much cricket experience a player has under his belt before considering him for selection. How much responsibility he is willing to take and whether he is a performing player,” Khan said. “I am not in favour of picking players based on limited franchise cricket exposure,” he added when asked if selecting young players with little domestic experience was counterproductive for Pakistan cricket. “I agree players must have proper first-class and List A experience behind them before they are considered for selection. You need to see how capable a player is in terms of adjusting to international standards and cricket when he is selected for Pakistan.”
The former batsman, who is
Pakistan’s highest run-getter in Tests with most centuries, said that at times selection of players was made because of pressure created by the media, explayers and analysts on social media channels.
“It happens. Pressure is built to select a raw player on these media platforms and YouTube channels and expectations are high from that player so when he fails he can’t handle it,” he said.
Khan noted that in the past, Pakistan had produced quality batsmen because they came through a proper system of first class and List A matches.
“You can’t expect to find a Javed Miandad, Saeed Anwar, Mohammad Yousuf or Younis Khan until we set a benchmark for selection of batsmen,” he said.
Khan conceded that with some tough cricket coming up, including the World T20 in India, Pakistan needed to sort out its problems in the middle and lower-order batting.
However, he praised top-order players like Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman for getting big scores and taking responsibility in recent times, adding that the South African tour, where Pakistan won both the ODI and T20 series, has been a good learning experience for the players.
He said other players needed to learn from Azam who, he felt, was on his way to becoming one of the game’s batting greats. “Babar has really worked hard on his fitness and technique and he is so aware of the expectations of not only Pakistani people but the cricket world has from him. He wants to be among the runs consistently and he is hungry for success.”
When asked about the repeated chances given to players like Asif Ali, Haider Ali and others despite their failures, Khan pointed out that he was only the batting coach and final selection was the domain of the head coach and captain.
“I can’t interfere. I can only give recommendations and feedback. The final decision is with the head coach and captain. We are trying to find the right combination, so we get performing batsmen in all formats,” he said.