`It won’t be long before Pakistan become world-beaters again’

The wily Old Fox is back. This time his role is very difficult and to take Pakistan out of the rough phase. It is surely going to test Miandad’s skills — cricketing as well as managerial. But as all know, Miandad always loves a challenge. So much so, that challenges act as catalysts for him.

Miandad’s fighting qualities as a cricketer could never be doubted. The question is, will Miandad the coach, be able to restore sanity to Pakistan’s cricket? “Why not, I know my job and have full confidence in my abilities. I am working on the boys and some of them, like Imran Nazir and Younis Khan are very talented. Inshaallah (God willing), it won’t be long before Pakistan become world beaters again,” Miandad asserts.

Being optimistic is fine but the way Pakistan cricket has slid downhill — from being the World Cup finalists only last year to a team which doesn’t know when its next win will come — makes baffling reading as they have no dearth of talent. Which team can boast of a pace attack like they have — the two Ws, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar and all-rounders like Abdur Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood. Then, there are spin kings Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed, with young Shoaib Malik ready to take over.

It’s the batting which is proving to be their Achilles heel. Again, individual brilliance is there but it has not transformed into collective scores. Miandad, himself a master tactician, is already at the task. “I have told my batsmen to play their natural game but that doesn’t mean you can’t adapt to the situation. What is the use of a batsman who can’t stand there for a day when his team needs him to do that?” he says.

“I am not going to tolerate all this. Players have to pull their weight in the team, they can’t play merely on reputation. I will not be specific but what use is experience if runs are not coming? At the same time, I am willing to wait a little. The boys are good, really very good I tell you, and they must realise their worth. Otherwise there are many others waiting to take over.”

Miandad, it may be recalled, guided Pakistan to 1-1 Test series against India in his first stint as the coach in 1999 but only months later, in the tournament here last year, quit his job. It was no secret that he was having problems with the senior players in the side, who didn’t like the coach’s interfering ways. In fact, Miandad had even threatened to don his pads and play if others didn’t improve. All this, obviously, didn’t go down too well with the players.

Now, in his second stint, Miandad is playing it safe. “I have no problem with anyone. They are doing their job, I am doing mine. Pakistan comes first, not the individuals. It’s our pride to be representing Pakistan in world cricket,” he says. If the coach has his say, he would even want his his players to wear T-shirts with “I am Proud to be a Pakistani” tag on it.

His first task is to clear the mess surrounding Pakistan cricket. Already, the match-fixing and betting allegations have taken their toll. The captaincy issue, too, is one which has to be resolved as after the Sharjah tournament, Pakistan fly off to the Caribbean Isles for a full tour against the West Indies.

“The Pakistan Cricket Board is addressing all these issues. But, as far as cricket is concerned, we will try to give our best,” Miandad promises.