Pakistan coach Waqar Younis has said the Test series win against New Zealand is a boost for his team.
“A win always gives you confidence. We will go into six-match One-day Internationals series against Black Caps with a lot more aggression and positivity.
“We have got a few players and a few going back. We know that New Zealand are always a tough team in their home conditions, so we are not going to take it easy,” he said after the drawn second Test at Wellington on Wednesday.
Pakistan had hammered home team in the first Test at Hamilton. Waqar praised efforts of his experienced batsmen.
“They`ve been batting well since South Africa, which was another tough series. Full credit to Younis Khan, he`s an experienced campaigner and he knows what to do and he did exactly what we needed.”
Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq embellished his record as captain, adding 70 to take his series tally to 231 in three innings, and picked up man-of-match and man-of-series awards. His average since taking over leadership is 112.75 in four Tests.
“For some [becoming Test captain] goes wrong and for some it brings a lot of luck,” Waqar said. “He`s been playing good, defensive but positive cricket.”
The coach said the plan had been to chase down the 274 set by New Zealand for victory at Wellington, but early wickets caused his side to change tack.
“270 odd is a par score nowadays in Test match cricket. But on fifth day it sometimes gets a little tricky. We wanted to win this match but losing three early wickets didn`t really help the cause and it took a bit too long to recover from that and that`s why we didn`t manage it.
“Hafeez was our trump card. If he had carried on for bit longer it might have been a different story, but it was tough after that. We always knew (Daniel) Vettori could be [dangerous] on this fifth day pitch, so we`re happy with the result.”
Waqar expressed his surprise over Pakistan Cricket Board`s decision of delaying naming captain for the World Cup while announcing the 15-member squad.
“This is also surprising to me. I don`t know what reasons the board could have for delaying naming the captain but personally I feel it would have been better to announce the captain along with the World Cup team,” Waqar said.
PCB on Tuesday announced World Cup squad but held back skipper`s name. Asked who he felt was a better choice to lead Pakistan in the mega event, he said he was not in a position to respond.
“Captain`s name should have been announced along with the squad. Not announcing captain will only lead to issues,” Waqar said, adding that all other teams have announced their squads with their captains.
He said he had always supported young players in T20 and ODI squads.
“I am happy selectors have included Ahmed Shahzad, Asad Shafiq and retained Umar Akmal. It is in Test cricket that you need loads of experience but in T20s and ODIs, I believe young players add freshness to the team.”
Manager Intikhab Alam felt Test series win over New Zealand was right tonic for the World Cup.
“It is a great win and reason we didn`t go all out to win Test match today was because we felt securing series was far more important as we have not won a series since 2006.”
