Zahid keen on nurturing ‘supreme’ pacers, praises ‘unplayable’ Asif

Former Pakistan speedster Mohammad Zahid is keen on nurturing the next generation of the country’s fast-bowlers, after joining the National High Performance Centre (NHPC).

While talking to Cricket Pakistan in an exclusive interview, Zahid, who is currently the fast-bowling coach at NHPC, was confident about producing supreme pacers for Pakistan.

“I’m not sure how long I will be here for but I’m keen on ensuring that whenever I leave there is a proper structure in place so that people coming after us can also benefit from it,” said Zahid. “Pakistan has always been fertile for fast-bowlers, with lots of talent, and I will try to nurture supreme pacers, who can bowl around 90 to 95 miles per hour.”

Zahid also heaped praise on former pacer Mohammad Asif, while talking about the importance of speed to pick up wickets.

“Having said that, you don’t just need to bowl fast to pick up wickets. Mohammad Asif used to pick up wickets, despite bowling around 82 to 83 mph, and was unplayable at times. Mohammad Abbas is also similar to Asif and is one of our best bowlers right now,” he said. “I’m keen on producing good bowlers rather than just focusing on who bowls fast or not.”

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The former right-arm quick was also impressed with the young bowling talent in Pakistan.

“I’m excited and looking forward to this challenge. It’s early to say but from, what I have seen, the future of Pakistan’s fast-bowling looks promising. But it takes time and sheer hard work to become a bowler like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis or Shoaib Akhtar. There is no shortcut as you have to train yourself and maintain fitness,” he said.

“We have only been here for a couple of weeks so we are still in the process of observing and identifying players. We are coordinating with the Pakistan national team management, domestic teams and High Performance Centre to ensure that it’s a synchronized process. After we have identified players we will work on their development and plans for that are already in place,” he added.

He also believes that a fast-bowler should only play the format he is interested in, while also managing their workload carefully.

“Fast-bowlers should play those formats in which they are interested as there is little point in forcing someone to play a particular format,” he said. “It is important to manage the workload of a bowler and this is what we are working on as well.”