I would have easily dominated Bumrah: Razzaq

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Former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has claimed that he would have had no difficulty in countering India’s death-bowling specialist Jasprit Bumrah, if he was still playing international cricket.

In an exclusive interview with Cricket Pakistan, Razzaq said that he had faced better quality pacers than Bumrah in his playing days.

“After having faced world class bowlers in my time, I would have had no problem against a bowler like Bumrah. Pressure would have been on him,” said Razzaq. “I have played against great bowlers like Glenn Mcgrath and Wasim Akram, so Bumrah is a baby bowler in front of me and I could have easily dominated and attacked him.”

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“I would add that Bumrah is doing very well and has improved a lot. He has an awkward action and hits the seam perfectly which is why he is effective,” he added.

Former all-rounder was also critical of the selection policy being followed by the Pakistan team management.

“The eye to pick the right talent is missing. You can’t select a player for Test cricket based on just few performances or because Naseem Shah troubled Azhar Ali in the nets,” he said. “It can destroy a cricketer’s career if you select him before he deserves a chance. That’s why players like Hasan Ali are nowhere to be seen and we struggled in Australia.”

The 40-year-old believes the Men in Green need drastic improvement in all formats.

“We were struggling to qualify for the World Cup, our Test ranking has gone down and we are lucky to be number one in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is),” he said. “You can’t say we are number one because we are really good. Teams like India, England and Australia lost their matches and that helped us in securing the number one spot.”

“We desperately need to improve our ranking in other formats and not just focus on player’s individual performances and averages,” he added.

Razzaq finally expressed his desire to take up a coaching assignment with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and groom youngsters.

“Coaching is my passion and I want to work with cricketers in the field and improve their basics,” he said. “I want to groom the Under-19 cricketers, which is why I applied for a job with the PCB. However, the board had other plans and said that they don’t require my services right now. If I get an opportunity to work with PCB in future, I am confident I can produce players for Pakistan.”