By Ahmed Zulfiqar

 

 

In an era where graft was favored over grace, one Pakistani batsman rose above it all to leave an indelible mark. The blade within his hands was the baton of an orchestra conductor. Zaheer Abbas – fondly remembered as the Asian Bradman – was one of only a few batsmen of his era to score a hundred first class hundreds. He had a self-proclaimed love of breaking records, and did so with the utmost of style and elegance.

With a pedigree of such distinction, it is no surprise that today, Zaheer Abbas is full of frustration at what he deems is the lack staying power amongst the current crop of Pakistani batsmen.

Pakistani batsmen have more often than not struggled to deliver in recent times. Centuries have been hard to come by, with not a single batsman reaching the triple figure mark on the entire summer tour of England last year, and with only stalwart Younis Khan having made a Test century in recent times. In a recent interview with PakPassion.net, the maestro expressed his clear displeasure with the lack of application by batsmen.

“I don’t think the batsmen have that temperament to stay at the wicket for a long time, and somebody has to teach them. To score a century you have to have a lot of patience, to stay at the wicket for a long long time. To complete a century you need to stay at the wicket for at least three and a half hours.”

The patience to play big innings is the kind of mindset that Zaheer had cultivated in his distinguished career as Pakistan’s premier batsman. A study of Zaheer’s batting technique would serve as a perfect lesson for players, especially those who struggle to knuckle down and apply themselves. Zaheer for his part, is no doubt about the priceless value of a batsman who is a run accumulator as opposed to one who plays a shot filled “flashy”, yet brief innings.

“There is no value in sitting in the dressing room but you have a lot of value when at the crease such a player”

In Zaheer’s universe, where the premium on one’s wicket is supreme, such a player can only be termed a crowd entertainer and no more – liability and not an asset. This is exactly the same reason why he is not too impressed with the antics of the so called young guns either. He singles out Asad Shafiq’s knock in the Semi Finals of the World cup as an example.

“The way he got out against India – a straightforward ball that he was trying to cut – well if you can do well in a big match, then nothing like it but he didn’t!”

This is just one example of the lack of big match temperament amongst youngsters that irks Zaheer and something which should set warning bells ringing amongst Pakistani planners.

Can big match temperament be instilled into youngsters or bad habits ironed out by expert coaching? Zaheer feels that Pakistani coaching is too orientated towards bowling excellence with little or no bias towards batting. Such a situation cries out for expert batting help and as a loyal servant of the National game, there is no one better qualified than Zaheer - but is he ready for this assignment - "of course" is the unambiguous reply!

The Pakistan Cricket Board should take heed - with the bowlers having the support of heavyweights of the yesteryears, who better to teach the Pakistani batsmen in the all important skill of building an innings than potentially the most patient of them all?