imageISLAMABAD: Legendary batsman Javed Miandad want national players to understand the sheer honour of representing millions of Pakistanis in and outside the country saying stop thinking about being senior or junior and just think of making runs for the country.

Miandad said the players should look to improve themselves so that they don't just score a hundred every few innings and then fail in all others. "All they (players) need to set goals for themselves," he said adding at his time he had a goal in his mind that was to score more runs than the Indian Sunil Gavaskar.

Miandad said it didn't matter if he achieved the goal or not but the fact was that he had that aim in his mind. "Our batsmen should know how to react to different situations on the field which change in every game," he told Pakpassion.net.

Miandad said at his time he used to assess the situation he was batting in. "I used to make sure that the opponents did what I wanted them to do, rather than reacting to their tactics. I would play shots that would change the field or make the bowler change his line and length, this is what makes a batsman different," he said.

Speaking about Pakistan cricket not producing players like Miandad and Inzamam ul Haq, he said there is no grass-roots cricket in Pakistan. "We don't even have proper grounds. Our kids are playing on the road, streets and even roofs."

"There is virtually no college or school cricket played on proper grounds, which is where the players of tomorrow should come from," he said.

Miandad said cricket is not an easy game to play, it needs years of training but apart from coaching, you also need proper surfaces to play on as well.

"In other countries of the world, the local government takes care of such facilities but in our country there is no such arrangement and as a consequence we are unable to produce enough quality players over time," he said.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2014

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