ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar feels the national players need to show more courage and spirit if they want to win the Second Test against Sri Lanka at Colombo.
Pakistan will play its second test against Srli Lanka on August 14 (Thursday). Shoaib Akhtar said the team's performance was below par in the first Test which Pakistan lost at Galle. "Our players showed neither heart nor courage in the first Test," Pakpassion.net quoted him as saying.
The fast bowler said Pakistan presently lacked quality world class players. "What is worrisome is we don't have much quality talent coming through from domestic cricket at the moment. In such circumstances the players need to put in a huge collective effort to do well and that was missing on Sunday against Sri Lanka," he said.
Akhtar said at present besides Younis Khan he doesn't see any batsmen equal to the caliber of Kumar Sangakkara or Mahela Jayawardene. "We don't even have a player who can tackle the game according to the situation," he said.
Akhtar said at the end of the day technique does not matter as much heart and spirit of a player on the field in pressure situations. "Against Sri Lanka in the second innings our players didn't try to attack the bowling and it was disappointing to watch such a performance," he said.
Akhtar said Test cricket had changed in the last few years since the advent of T20 cricket. "Pakistani players are playing at such a slow rate that they hardly manage a run rate of 3 in tests while the other teams nowadays start off with run rates of plus three and even four," he said.
Akhtar, however, while supporting the present team management said give them one, two or even three years and stick with this management and let them get the results. "This chopping and changing only complicates the situation," he said.
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