Pakistan greats laud Virat Kohli

Karachi - Fans, cricket fraternity disappointed with team's loss to India

Former Pakistan players Hanif Mohammad, Javed Miandad and Mohammad Yousuf have praised India's Virat Kohli for playing a sensible and mature innings on a difficult pitch against a top bowling attack to guide his side to victory over the arch-rivals in the Asia Cup.
The three greats said Pakistani batsmen also needed to show the same game sense in the Asia Cup as Kohli had done in Saturday's match.
"All this talk about power hitting is fine but you have to learn to bat according to the conditions and opposition. Our batsmen need to give respect to the bowlers and conditions where necessary. They didn't do this against India and paid the price," Hanif Muhammad said in an interview on Sunday.
He said Kohli had played a very mature innings in difficult conditions and it didn't surprise him. "For years now India have produced a line of fine batsmen starting with Sunil Gavaskar and now Kohli. Because of the number of top batsmen they are producing Indian youngsters also gain inspiration from them," he said.
He noted that Indian youngsters had also gained lot of inspiration from the feats of Sachin Tendulkar. Miandad said Pakistani batsmen needed to improve themselves technically and learn to apply themselves and be patient. "No number of coaches can teach a batsman how to bat at the international level. It is for the individual to work on his game and gain inspiration and guidance from top players," Miandad said.
He said nowadays with so many facilities available to them like instant video analysis he was surprised the Pakistani batsmen were not showing more consistency. "I think the Indian batsmen work very hard on their own game and are hungry for runs. Kohli is an example."
The former captain noted that once a player graduates into the national team it is his own responsibility to develop his game sense and improve his technique and skills.
Yousuf said Kohli had shown how to bat on a testing track. "Whenever our batsmen play on flat tracks they are scoring runs but falter on pitches with some movement. Batsmen from every country struggle on pitches where bowlers get assistance but top players learn to adjust and improve their technique to counter these things. Our batsmen lack this."
Yousuf said he had always been making the point that Pakistani batsmen were weak technically on demanding pitches and this was proven again on Saturday.
"I think Kohli showed how to bat on such a pitch. Tell me on which good ball did our batsmen get out today. Our batsmen can only bat on batting pitches," Yousuf said. The former batsman also refused to blame the coaching staff for the failure.
"No one can do anything not even a top mentor when the players are not willing to listen and learn," he said. "I think Virat Kohli is a good example of talent, temperament and technique which is why he is so successful in every condition."
Yousuf said the Pakistan think tank really needed to look into this problem or the team would face many problems on coming Test tours to England and Australia.
Meanwhile, a large number of fans who had gathered at different spots in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi on Saturday to watch the match on giant screens amidst an atmosphere of festivity left upset and angry.
Television channels showed some of them raising slogans against the Pakistan Cricket Board and players demanding their ouster while in some other parts of the country disappointed fans broke television sets with sticks.
Reports said that in some areas of Punjab angry fans had burnt effigies and posters of captain Shahid Afridi and other players.
To add insult to injury for the angry fans, Afridi said losing to India was not a big deal and the Pakistan team could make a comeback, a comment which didn't go down well at all with anyone. "Stop making excuses and start playing cricket, " an angry former Test player Sikander Bakht said.