The Hindu : Pak needs someone like Sachin: Miandad

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 06, 2003

Sport

Sport - World Cup

Pak needs someone like Sachin: Miandad

Islamabad March 5. Pakistan is yearning for someone who can play cricket with even ``half the passion'' that Sachin Tendulkar has and the admission comes from no other than the India-bashing and pompous Javed Miandad.

Licking the wounds of an early exit from the World Cup, Miandad set about the task of carrying out a post-mortem of country's ``most disappointing'' show in the premier event and tried to list the what-went-wrongs.

``The faster Shoaib Akhtar bowled at him, the more powerful his (Tendulkar's) shots were. Wouldn't Pakistan have loved to have someone who could play with half the passion that Sachin played with at Centurion,'' Miandad said reflecting on Pakistan's six-wicket surrender to India at Centurion on March 1.

Miandad was quick to press for an overhaul in the cricket establishment too. ``Pakistan's performance has been most disappointing in this World Cup. And let me say that even with a professional coach and the numerous experienced stars in the side, if the team can't get the basic things right, then it is time for major changes in the set-up.

``Pakistan's performance must rank as the most disappointing in their World Cup history. They have been beaten by Australia, England, and now India this time around,'' Miandad was quoted as saying in The News.

But he wondered if the administrators could do much ``if the players lack the passion for the game and the hunger to go for a win''.

``It was unfortunate to note that in the crunch game against India there seemed to be no game plan, no thinking in the middle. Once Tendulkar smashed 18 runs off the second over, I saw a few heads drop. No, this is not the Pakistan team I have known. At that stage, Pakistan sorely missed Rashid Latif, who was injured while batting,'' Miandad said.

Miandad said it hurt him to see that ``while all the other teams improved as the tournament progressed, Pakistan is one team that has refused to do so.'' — PTI

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