‘Beating stress must to beat India’

A few days after Imran Khan’s pep talk, it was the turn of his protege Wasim Akram to spend time — three hours — with Pakista...

A few days after Imran Khan’s pep talk, it was the turn of his protege Wasim Akram to spend time — three hours — with Pakistan’s players preparing for the upcoming series. Akram, who was at the nets and later gave an hour-long lecture at the National Cricket Academy auditorium on various aspects of an Indo-Pak series, said it was 50-50 between the two teams.

It would, he said, be as everyone predicted: India’s batting against Pakistan’s bowling. ‘‘But Pakistan has the edge because it would be difficult for the young Indian players to handle the pressure as cricket between the two countries is played at a different level,” he said.

After inspiring Ashish Nehra and, more recently, Irfan Pathan, Akram turned to his successors in the Pakistan team. Akram’s input has immense strategic value; having watched the Indians from close quarters Down Under, he would have noticed those little vulnerabilities that could be exploited by the likes of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami, Shabbir Ahmed and Umar Gul.

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PCB CEO Ramiz Raja summed it up aptly: ‘‘Akram has done it all, so his presence alone has its own importance. I believe it would make a lot of difference to the morale of the boys. After all, if it boils down to mental strength being more important than skills, there is nothing more important than having someone like Akram egging everyone on.’’

And he was egging them on today. In warm spring sunshine, he stood there in the middle throughout the nets, talking to seniors and juniors in groups, advising each of the pace bowlers individually. He also had separate sessions with skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq (he especially spoke to him about how to handle the media), coach Javed Miandad and manager Haroon Rashid.

On the field, Akram watched the bowler’s action, delivery and follow-through, giving each of them his suggestions about how they could keep it smooth and stress-free. Sami received some special advice on how to avoid no-balls and wides. His advice was not partial to pacemen. He took young upper-order batsmen to the cricket analyst’s room and, with the help of the video analysis and graphics, showed Yasir Hameed, Taufeeq Umar and Imran Farhat how they could improve their effectiveness with the bat.

Later, speaking to reporters, Akram said he told the players how they could handle the pressure. ‘‘In a nutshell, I have just advised them that instead of being overburdened by the pressure, they should just relax and enjoy their cricket. I have tried to transfer my experience of handling the pressure under such circumstances that I myself had learnt from Imran and Miandad.’’

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‘‘There is talent in this team and, if they play like a team, I’ve no doubt that they can win against India,’’ said Akram. Finally, Akram made an impassioned appeal to all Pakistanis to ‘‘enjoy the series and give due respect and be hospitable to the Indian team. Their people gave us respect and hospitality and it is our turn to do the same.’’

(The writer is Sports Editor of The Nation, Lahore)

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