Birmingham: Former Pakistan speedster Wasim Akram has advised Safaraz Ahmad not to tinker with the winning combination and go with an unchanged playing XI against New Zealand in its crucial World Cup match to be played on Wednesday at Edgbaston.
Pakistan kept its hopes of making it to the semi-finals of the ongoing tournament alive after registering a comfortable 49-run victory over South Africa on Sunday, thus knocking it out of the competition.
He also hoped for a repeat of 1992 show when Pakistan had defeated the Black Caps – which was also unbeaten till that match – by seven wickets in its crucial World Cup game played at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch. “New Zealand was unbeaten in 1992 too before playing against us and we won the game, it is unbeaten again and I hope we repeat the show, but boys will have to give their best,” Wasim told Pakistan’s Geo TV. ‘There’s no need to change the winning combination,” he added.
However, Akram wants Pakistan to improve its fielding, especially the catching which has been very poor so far in the tournament. Pakistan has dropped as many as 14 catches in the six games it has played so far. “We have dropped 14 catches in the tournament. We are top on the list of teams dropping most catches in the World Cup which isn’t a good sign,” Akram said.
“This isn’t something new, but we need to overcome this problem,” he added. The former captain also added that Babar Azam needs to start converting his fifties into hundreds if he wants to become a world-class batsman. Azam has scored two half-centuries in the World Cup so far, which came against England and South Africa, but was subsequently dismissed for 63 and 69, respectively.
He also scored 48 against arch-rivals India before being clean bowled by spinner Kuldeep Yadav. “The openers did well, Babar did well, but Babar needs to convert his fifties into hundreds,” said Akram while speaking of the Proteas game.
Pakistan has five points from six games and is currently placed at the seventh spot in the table. It needs to win all its remaining three games.