LAHORE: Pakistan are looking adopt an attacking approach in the One-day International format with their eyes set on the Asia Cup and the World Cup trophies.
While the Asia Cup is set to be held in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from Aug 30 to Sept 17 the World Cup will be hosted by India from Oct 5 to Nov 19.
In both tournaments and the preceding three match ODI series against Afghanistan, Pakistan will try to emulate their attacking show in the recent Test clean sweep against Sri Lanka, which saw the side demonstrate blistering scoring rates.
“We are trying to change our [playing style] in one-day cricket just like we did in Tests,” Pakistan batter Salman Ali Agha told reporters on the sidelines of the team preparatory training camp for the Afghanistan series — which will be played in Sri Lanka from Aug. 22-26 — at the LCCA ground here on Tuesday.
Salman believed Pakistan needed to up their game in the middle overs of the 50-over format and that they are undergoing focused training to ensure that.
“There have been a few issues in the middle overs and we are training while keeping that in mind. If you do well in middle overs, both as a batting and bowling unit, it increases your chances to win.”
Pakistan opener Abdullah Shafique, who, including Salman, is one of the five members of the Pakistan squad for the Afghanistan series and the Asia Cup taking part in the camp, echoed Salman’s revelations about the team’s ambition to play high-paced cricket.
“One-day cricket has changed a lot and nowadays every team looks to score 300 plus runs,” he said in a media talk. “We are keeping that in mind while practicing and we are trying to prepare ourselves for situations which will require us to score big totals, chasing or even when we are batting first.”
Across the Asia Cup and World Cup, Pakistan will take on India at least twice. The sides play against each other only in such tournaments with bilateral cricketing ties between the two countries facing a deadlock due to a hostile political climate.
The fixture, therefore, carries a special hype but for Abdullah, it will be just another game when Pakistan lock horns with India for their Asia Cup clash on Sept 2 in Pallekele.
“Obviously there is excitement given the stature of the rivalry but unlike it is for spectators, for cricketers it’s just another game,” he said.
Before the high intensity tournaments, the Afghanistan series holds significant importance for Pakistan. Beating them 3-0 will take Pakistan to the top of the ICC ODI rankings.
The job, however, won’t be an easy one, especially due to the danger that Afghanistan’s spin bowling duo of Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-ur-Rehman pose.
“Afghanistan have a world class bowling attack, they have the best spinners in the world,” said Salman. “We are well aware of the challenge the Afghanistan players can pose and we have been preparing for it in this camp.”
Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2023
