Zahid keen on nurturing fast, talented pacers

The newly appointed bowling coach of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB’s) High Performance Center Mohammad Zahid, while talking to the media in Lahore soon after taking up the position on Tuesday, has expressed his eagerness to nurture the next generation of fast and talented pacers.

The 44-year-old claimed that it would be a challenging job while vowing to step up to the expectations of those who trusted him with the position.

“This is a challenging job. I will try to perform according to the expectations. In the past, this position was not given much interest. In recent years, most fast-bowlers came from Punjab. Now, many are coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We need to focus on this area. We need to identify talents from all the regions and ensure that the youngsters have long and prosperous futures for the Men in Green,” Zahid said.

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“It is correct to say that I have been away from Pakistan however I have always kept an eye on the team’s performance. There has not been a dynamic change in fast-bowling since I left. I want to improve pacers by taking away their initial mistakes and shortcomings. We will focus on these things,” he added.

Zahid has represented Pakistan in five Tests and 11 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) while picking up 15 wickets and 10 wickets respectively in each format.