KOLKATA– Pakistan are hurt by their woeful World Cup show and their head coach Grant Bradburn on Monday blamed it on “foreign” Indian conditions and their lack of familiarity with the venues.
Four defeats on the trot have virtually dashed Pakistan’s semifinal hopes. They have to win their remaining three matches by big margins and hope that other teams’ results also favoured them to have any chance of making it to the last-four stage.
“We are in a position that we didn’t want to be. We are determined at this stage of the tournament to be in control of our destiny but we’re not. That hurts the group,” said the Pakistani coach on the eve of their match against Bangladesh here on Tuesday.
“This tournament is on foreign conditions for us. None of our players have played here before. Every venue is a new one, including this one,” he added.
Bradburn said his side have done their homework meticulously. “We’ve done our homework meticulously on our opposition, on our venues that we’re playing at, and we’re prepared very, very well for each and every encounter.
“But the reality is that each and every venue is a new one for us and we don’t feel disadvantaged at all in terms of the knowledge, the quality, the skill, the backing that we have for this team of cricketers,” he said.
The former Scotland coach, who had served as Pakistan’s fielding coach and then consultant, was handed the reins by the PCB on a two-year deal in May.
“Ideally, preparation for a tournament like this starts four years ahead. We started six months ago and changed direction in the way that we want to play the game of cricket, especially the one-day brand.
“We’ve shown some positive signs of that over the last six months. We’re proud of some of the performances that we’ve put on. It’s taking a little bit longer than we hoped, but we want to play a dynamic brand that matches the challenge of the conditions we’re playing in.”
Inzamam Resigns As PCB Chief Selector
The legendary Inzamam-ul Haq has resigned as chairman of the national selection committee after the Pakistan Cricket Board initiated an inquiry to probe if his association with a company that manages a number of the national team’s players pertains to conflict of interest.
The PCB has formed a five-member committee to probe Inzamam’s role in the company – Yazoo International — where he shares the same agent who manages captain Babar Azam, pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi and wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan.
As a result, in the middle of the World Cup, Inzamam was forced to send his resignation to the PCB.
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