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Nothing wrong with my technique: Zaman

The opener has been a target of criticism after Pakistan’s early exit from the 2019 ICC World Cup

Nothing wrong with my technique: Zaman PHOTO: Reuters

Pakistan’s opener Fakhar Zaman, in an interview with PakPassion.net, has claimed that there was nothing wrong with his technique.

The opener has been a target of criticism after Pakistan’s early exit from the 2019 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup. Zaman however, was adamant that the criticism was based on circumstances rather than his technique.

“Whenever one performs well in a game, then there is very little criticism. But when you do not do that well, then all sorts of things are said about a player. In my experience, people who have played cricket before will not say things like ‘Fakhar has been found out’ etc,” said Zaman. “To give you an example, take what happened in the first ODI game against England. I was out for 3 in that game and we heard all sorts of things about my technique being said including the fact that somehow, I had been found out by the opposition. In the next game, I scored 138, and the comments were completely different.”

The 29-year-old believes that every player was focused on improving their game and revealed his strategy to help him with his career in the future.

“A cricketer is always looking to improve his game, regardless of the format he is playing or what stage of his career he’s at. What I am looking to do at this stage of the tournament is to play a longer inning as I feel that not doing that is affecting my success rate for the team,” he said. “I don’t think I have any issues with my technique and the ball is coming on nicely to the bat for me. I just need to take more time at the wicket as that I am sure will help me put bigger scores for the team.”

The left-hander, who is currently representing Glamorgan in the Vitality T20 Blast, also believes that the Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Pakistan Super League (PSL) is more competitive than England’s T20 tournament.  

“Whilst there is no difference in the format of the game, the PSL tends to be more competitive as there are six sides representing the whole of Pakistan,” he said. “With 4 foreign players allowed, the sides can field very competitive teams so each game is very tough. In contrast, there are 18 teams in the T20 Blast so quality of competition can be affected by that.”

Zaman however pointed out that the Vitality T20 Blast provided players with the opportunity to play on different pitches, which could help cricketers in the long term.

“However, where the difference really shows is in the types of wickets which we play on in England. The conditions aren’t that easy as one would expect in a Twenty20 game. Here, you can get to play on different types of wickets and you never know what type of surface you will play on in the next game. This is the only real challenge of playing Twenty20 cricket in England and does make it special,” he concluded.