I can improve Pakistan’s fielding and power-hitting: Imran Nazir

Former Pakistan opening batsman Imran Nazir believes he can improve Pakistan players’ power-hitting and fielding, if offered a coaching role by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

While speaking to Cricket Pakistan in an exclusive interview, Nazir said that the Men in Green are currently lacking in the aforementioned areas and need the right people at the helm to make a difference.

“Fielding and power-hitting are two things Pakistan players are not doing the way they should. I get disappointed when I don’t see the right people in charge, who should be teaching these two aspects of the game. I have not seen the same fielding skills as mine in Pakistan team since I left cricket,” said Nazir. “Since Me and Shahid Afridi left, only Sharjeel Khan has come through the circuit as a genuine power-hitter.”

“If I am offered a coaching role, I am ready to serve my country. Give me some time [with Pakistan team], I will improve their fielding and power-hitting. I am not bragging but I have confidence in my abilities,” he added.

Nazir believes left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir made an emotional decision to retire from cricket and should follow pacer Hasan Ali’s example, inorder to make a comeback into the national side.

“If you scold a player’s performance today, they take it personally. I used to get scolded a lot, but you should understand why it is being done. If you will not perform, then you are bound to get criticised. We used to learn from that criticism,” he said.

“Pakistan has invested a lot in Amir. Amir needs to be patient and prove himself on the ground. Hasan Ali also went back into domestic, performed and made a comeback. You can’t just get disheartened and leave cricket,” he added.

The 39-year-old also criticised current Pakistan head coach Misbahul Haq for accepting a dual role of head coach-cum-chief selector without any prior experience.

“Coaching is a very tough job. Misbah should have first gained experience as a coach at the domestic level. It is not necessary that a good player will also be a good coach. You need to do coaching courses and have experience under your belt instead of directly becoming a coach and selector after retiring as a player,” he said.

Nazir also warned the Pakistan team management against introducing too many youngsters in the upcoming two-match Test series against South Africa, starting from January 26 in Karachi.

“There are nine uncapped players in the Test squad announced for South African series. Pakistan has a lot of talent, but we need to careful about bringing them straight away in international cricket. We should first groom that talent, so players have belief and confidence in their ability. We need to give players some time to get mature and then we can introduce them in international cricket,” he concluded.