If Pakistan wants to compete successfully in this year’s World Cup and Asia Cup, head coach Grant Bradburn wants them to modify the way they play cricket. The 56-year-old New Zealander said in an exclusive interview with Geo News in Islamabad that Pakistan will only finish second if they continue to play the kind of cricket that has been successful for them in recent years. For this reason, it is crucial to understand what brand of cricket is required to be played.
“Mickey [Arthur] and I have spoken to the team several times already; we have motivated them to believe we have the group. But as I’ve already stated, while we have a squad of champions, we do not yet have a champion team. And that’s the foundation we want to create,” Bradburn said.
“We’ve allowed our players to realise or accept that we’re not the team they want us to be just yet. If we want to compete for and win the World Cup, we want to be ranked first in every format of the game. Our game will have to improve, and our players will have to improve [theirselves].”
“We’ll provide the players with clear assistance, but we’ll also demand that they raise themselves and improve. We must recognise the type of game we must play in the Asia Cup and World Cup if we want to avoid placing second and moving backward if we bring the one that has been successful for us over the past two or three years. And we must immediately adjust to that,” he said.
“Absolute competitiveness, contests for two players, two or more people, for every position in all game modes, is one of the things we’re hoping to introduce. Cricket at the international level is more competitive, hence no player should feel at ease or comfortable. They should be aware that one of their teammates desires their position and is qualified to fill it and fill it well. And perhaps that will be the difference we make”.
This serves as a good illustration for us that it is irrelevant who we play, whether it is India, Hong Kong, Scotland, or anyone else. You can lose the game to anyone. Additionally, we must excel at the fundamentals of batting, bowling, and fielding. In one of those areas, I believe we performed reasonably well, but our fielding and bowling likely fell short. Therefore, in T20, if we’re going to do that. After Pakistan was defeated in the fifth T20I, he observed, “You’re going to come second most of the time.
