Former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, who is currently the head coach of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, believes that the Men in Green can become one of the top-ranked side in world cricket soon.

Razzaq stated that Pakistan team was heading in the right direction, in all departments of the game.

“We only have to look at the likes of South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka and England who are now in the middle of a similar rebuilding phase as us. We saw how South Africa are faring of late, so thankfully Pakistan is not at that stage and I am very happy that our batting, bowling and fielding has shown a marked improvement,” said Razzaq while talking to PakPassion.

“To me, the secret to reaching the first or second position in ICC’s rankings in all formats is to improve in all three facets, in much the same way as Australia was dominating all other teams about 20 years ago. I am hopeful that the way things are going, Pakistan will reach the first or second position in all formats very soon,” he added.

Pakistan are currently ranked fifth in Test cricket, sixth in ODIs and fourth in T20Is.

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He also praised the new domestic cricket structure in Pakistan and the role it was playing in improving players.  

“There has been a huge improvement in the quality of cricket at the domestic level due to the reduction in teams and I would say that our setup is starting to resemble that found in England and Australia. I would like us to follow the English structure where the manner in which cricket is organized and players looked after is very similar to an international set-up,” he said.

“What we are seeing now is that any player who does well in Pakistan domestic cricket where he is looked after by a professional management team which has a qualified Head Coach, physio, trainers and manager has very little pressure on him when he represents the country at the international level,” he added.