Saqlain wants people to stop undermining players’ confidence by criticism

KARACHI – The head coach of the Pakistan cricket team, Saqlain Mushtaq, stressed the need for every Pakistani to buck up as “Winning and losing is part of the game.”

Following the Pakistan’ defeat on Friday, the national team’s head coach Saqlain Mushtaq attended the press conference, where he was quizzed about the side s heavy loss.

“It is the system of nature that we win sometimes and lose also,” said the head coach.

In response to a query about the middle order, he said, “This is the middle order of the Pakistani team. It is ours and we have to support it.”

Saqlain said, “By talking about the middle order so frequently, you are influencing our minds. By frequently referring to the middle order, you are undermining the players  confidence in this manner.” He underscored the need for every Pakistani to repose trust in the skipper, coach and players.

The head coach said, “Pakistan triumphed yesterday, and they (England) made it today, so it shows the team will win whose plans work.”

He said the Pakistani team consists of the best available players. “We should have faith in our players. We will have to repose this confidence in them,” he said, adding, “there are some concerns, and efforts are being made to do away with them.”

Saqlain said the Pakistan bowling appeared to be lacking a lot in the third match of the England series. “Our bowlers made a lot of mistakes. Our plans were not good, either,” he said.

English middle-order batters Harry Brook and Ben Duckett smashed robust maiden half centuries in England’s thumping 63-run win in the third T20I of the seven-match series on Friday at National Stadium, Karachi.

Fourth T20I match of the series will be played in Karachi on Sunday while the rest of the series will be played in Gaddafi Stadium Lahore. Lahore will host the last three matches of the historic series on September 28, 30 and October 2.