Miandad has faith in spinners

FAISALABAD, NOVEMBER 27: Pakistan cricket coach Javed Miandad said Monday he was confident his team would defeat England in the second Test with the help of spinners. “I am confident we will win in the second Test and the strip at Iqbal Park in Faisalabad will turn,” Javed Miandad said, speaking ahead of the five-day encounter which is due to start on Wednesday.

“I had said England will not be easy to beat and may prove tough for us, they played well in Lahore but this time around I think we will come through successfully,” Miandad said. Pakistan has five spinners in the squad of 15 and is likely to play with three spinners — Saqlain Mushtaq, Arshad Khan and teenage leg-spinner Dinesh Kaneria — with Shahid Afridi as spinning allrounder.

“Kaneria is a future prospect and has impressed me with his bowling,” Miandad said. The 18-year-old Kaneria, a Hindu, has taken 34 wickets including 7-39 in five matches of the current Pakistan domestic season.

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The second Test will be a special occasion for famed Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram who will be playing the 100th Test of his career. Akram took only one wicket in the first Test and may again find himself in the wicket hunt on a spin track.

Pakistan team had the nets at Iqbal stadium on Monday while England players practised in a ground adjacent to their hotel. England are likely to keep the line-up which drew the first Test in Lahore.