Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan’s white-ball squad, is full of optimism and positive about the recent selection of Gary Kirsten as the team’s new white-ball cricket head coach.
It is up to Kirsten, a seasoned player with a plethora of coaching expertise, to turn Pakistan’s fortunes around in the forthcoming T20 World Cup and beyond.
Kirsten has coached the Indian and South African national teams to success in his previous two stints as an international coach. This is his third time at the Pakistan camp. Among his many accomplishments are captaining India to victory in the 2011 World Cup and guiding South Africa to the top of the Test rankings.
During a recent media interview, Babar stated that he was confident Kirsten could turn around Pakistan’s cricketing situation.
“Gary Kirsten is an extremely skilled coach, so having him here should be advantageous to all of us. He is already very interested in the World Cup preparations and talking strategy with the team executives, according to Babar.
Gary Kirsten has quickly established a strong line of communication with the team, and she often gets reports on their preparation and training.
“Gary Kirsten shares his plans with us, discussions are happening with coaches about our planning, and we update him on net practice plans, like how the bowling practice went today,” he added as quoted by The Hindu.
Not much time remains for rotation: Babar Azam
Babar brushed off worries about selection matters and promised that the interests of the team will always come first. He underlined how crucial it is to give young players time to adjust to playing international cricket while offering management support.
“I believe there isn’t much time for rotation right now because the World Cup is quickly approaching and there are still games left. We’ll work to provide our preferred World Cup team with a fair chance to compete,” Babar went on.
Anticipating the much awaited match against India, Babar agreed that plans needed to be made to counter the formidable Virat Kohli. But he made it clear that Pakistan would be concentrating on creating strategies against the whole opposition roster rather than simply individual players.
“The problem is that we prepare for a team’s full eleven players, and we have little idea what the weather will be like in New York. However, Babar acknowledged that Kohli was among the best players and that “we will plan against him as well.”
“The players that helped me along the way were important in any success I had as captain, and that remains the case now. What’s important is that the board fully supports our ability to succeed,” he said.
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