Waqar Younis reveals why Pakistan pacers struggle overseas

Pakistan bowling coach Waqar Younis has revealed why Men in Green pacers struggle to take wickets on overseas tours and perform better in home conditions.

The Men in Green bowlers have conceded five 400 plus run totals in their last tour to New Zealand, England and Australia under the supervision of Waqar as bowling coach.

“You have to bowl differently in different conditions. Since our pacers are used to bowling in home conditions, they know how to bowl in home pitches. This is not just the case with Pakistan bowlers, but bowlers all around the world perform better in their home conditions as compared to overseas. When our pacers play at home, they feel comfortable and they know how to use the conditions,” said Waqar while speaking to reporters in an online interaction on Wednesday.

“In the past, we have done well in England and have also beaten New Zealand comprehensively a decade ago. Hopefully, when we will tour overseas in future, our performances will be far better,” he added.

Waqar also opened up about carefully managing left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi’s workload ahead of the Twenty20 International (T20I) series against South Africa.

“All our medical panel and trainers are keeping a close eye on Shaheen’s workload. Since PSL is coming up next and franchises want their main players to play all matches, so we will have to make a call regarding how many matches he will play against South Africa,” he said.

“Plus, there is a lot of international cricket coming up after PSL as well, so we are considering all options, but no final decision has been made regarding which bowler will play how many matches. The good thing is that we have big pool of fast bowlers, so we can rotate them as well,” he added.

Pakistan won the recently concluded Test series against South Africa two-nil and will now move towards the T20I leg of the series which includes three fixtures that will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on February 11, 13 and 14 respectively.