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Pak playing individual game: Raja
Former Pakistani captain Rameez Raja has hit out at the Pakistani batsmen and Mohammad Yousuf in particular for the loss against India in the series.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: November 17, 2007 04:27 PM IST
Read Time:2 min
Gwalior:
Rameez has said, "If you looked at Mohammad Yousuf's innings, you could straightaway make out that he was more keen to play for himself. He has now become a statsguru, he's always looking after himself and doesn't seem to be playing for the team."
"That is the impression I got from his innings. Otherwise why would Pakistan lose matches whenever he has scored runs for the team?," he added. Yousuf made 99 off 104 balls in Gwalior and was the top scorer for the team so he might well disagree with this accusation.
Further expressing his disappointment Raja said, "One has to question the intent of the Pakistan batsmen because I thought they were going nowhere today. Their batsmen seemed to be playing according to ten different scripts and nobody seemed to be following the overall team script."
He said, "A selfish streak dominated their play. The team goals were put on the backburner."
He also thought Pakistan's strategy left a lot of questions unanswered. They lost crucial wickets at the wrong time and the innings never really took off.
Shoaib Malik's decision to bat first had to be backed by a good total on the board. Pakistan needed at least 30 runs extra over what they scored in order to beef up the total and counter the dew factor, as controlling the ball becomes difficult both while bowling and fielding in such circumstances.
According to Raja 255 was never going to be enough. India never looked out of breath or out of control when Pakistan started batting because they weren't threatened by any of the Pakistan batsmen.
Raja also said that the the statistics show the difference between the two captains - while Dhoni is averaging in the 50s in the ODI series, his counterpart is struggling, averaging less than 20 with the bat.
Raja thinks Malik's own form has got to improve; he has got to believe in himself in order to be a presentable leader for his team. Otherwise it will be tough for Pakistan to unsettle India in the Test series.
Former Pakistani captain Rameez Raja has hit out at the Pakistani batsmen and Mohammad Yousuf in particular for the loss against India in the series.Rameez has said, "If you looked at Mohammad Yousuf's innings, you could straightaway make out that he was more keen to play for himself. He has now become a statsguru, he's always looking after himself and doesn't seem to be playing for the team."
"That is the impression I got from his innings. Otherwise why would Pakistan lose matches whenever he has scored runs for the team?," he added. Yousuf made 99 off 104 balls in Gwalior and was the top scorer for the team so he might well disagree with this accusation.
Further expressing his disappointment Raja said, "One has to question the intent of the Pakistan batsmen because I thought they were going nowhere today. Their batsmen seemed to be playing according to ten different scripts and nobody seemed to be following the overall team script."
He said, "A selfish streak dominated their play. The team goals were put on the backburner."
He also thought Pakistan's strategy left a lot of questions unanswered. They lost crucial wickets at the wrong time and the innings never really took off.
Shoaib Malik's decision to bat first had to be backed by a good total on the board. Pakistan needed at least 30 runs extra over what they scored in order to beef up the total and counter the dew factor, as controlling the ball becomes difficult both while bowling and fielding in such circumstances.
According to Raja 255 was never going to be enough. India never looked out of breath or out of control when Pakistan started batting because they weren't threatened by any of the Pakistan batsmen.
Raja also said that the the statistics show the difference between the two captains - while Dhoni is averaging in the 50s in the ODI series, his counterpart is struggling, averaging less than 20 with the bat.
Raja thinks Malik's own form has got to improve; he has got to believe in himself in order to be a presentable leader for his team. Otherwise it will be tough for Pakistan to unsettle India in the Test series.
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