At the moment, Pakistan’s World Cup campaign is stuck at a huge boulder, mainly due to the inability of their bowlers to fire as a unit. The latest setback is a 62-run defeat to Australia in Bengaluru. It was their second consecutive defeat in the tournament after a seven-wicket battering by India. Shaheen Shah Afridi looked to have regained touch with a five-wicket haul but Haris Rauf and Hasan Ali were separated by David Warner and Mitchell Marsh. Alarmingly, Pakistan’s bowlers seemed to have no Plan B as they rode rough seas, with their bowling coach Morne Morkel admitting to his side that he had failed to build a bowling partnership.
“The last few games, that’s one of our talking points, trying to string together partnerships. I think that’s the key in India, creating pressure from both sides, keeping the stumps in play, and at the moment we’re not doing that. to do that.
“We are not consistent with the ball. If you want to lift that trophy on the 19th, we have to create consistency on both sides,” Morkel said after the match.
The former South African pacer said the team missed the presence of injured pacer Naseem Shah and his new ball alliance with Afridi in this tournament.
“Naseem is a quality bowler if you look at his stats, the consistency he gave us up front with the new ball was great. The partnership he formed with Shaheen was… we always talked about bowling partnerships. Naseem is a big loss” , he says. said.
Morkel, however, said Rauf and Ali were trying to learn and adapt to the demands of bowling in powerplays in ODIs, a role the pacers are not used to.
“It’s a bit of a new role for Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf who are bowling with the new ball in powerplays. These guys are bowling outside the powerplay. But I think with the opportunity we have given them, they can rise to the occasion.
“It’s quite difficult with a new ball in India. The margins are small. So they are learning and trying their heart out,” he said.
Morkel said the way forward for Rauf in ODIs was to increase his situational awareness and add new tricks to his repertoire.
“He’s still one of the go-to guys, one of the nothing,” he added.
However, Morkel saw a bright omen in the re-emergence of left-arm pacer Afridi during the match against the Aussies.
“We had honest conversations. We kind of unpacked the opening spells of the World Cup so far and looked at areas where we can attack and be smart. Maybe he tried too hard. Tonight he ran in and hit those players .” hard lines, changed his game strategy and increased his tempo.
“He put in such a performance on a tough bowling day against a team that is very aggressive and I am pleased with that,” Morkel said.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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