Pakistan coach Waqar Younis has urged his bowlers to step up and fill the void left by the absence of ace off-spinner Saeed Ajmal when they meet Australia in the limited overs and Test series.
Ajmal, ranked No 1 in one-day cricket, was last month suspended after his bowling action was found illegal following an assessment in a bio-mechanical laboratory in Australia.
Pakistan will badly miss Ajmal, who has single-handedly shouldered their bowling attack in all three formats of the game, particularly in the lone Twenty20 in their UAE tour, against Australia in Dubai tomorrow.
Ajmal, who turns 37 this month, has 85 Twenty20 wickets, the most by any bowler in this format. Waqar said Pakistan will have to make do without him.
“Ajmal has been a world beater for the last seven years and he has been at the top of his game but we have to live with it, and we have to find some new boys and make sure the youngsters deliver,” Waqar said.
Pakistan have selected 22-year-old left-arm spinner Raza Hasan to replace Ajmal and Waqar said he hoped the youngster would prove up to the mark.
“In a way it is an opportunity for young players like Hasan, or some other spinners we might bring into the Test squad, and also the responsibility of some of the senior bowlers to step up and perform,” said Waqar, who stated that Ajmal’s absence should not affect the team.
“With Ajmal gone out, things are different now and we have to really think hard as a bunch and not as one individual like Ajmal winning us games.
“Since he is not there what should we do? Are we going to start losing games?
“I think that is very negative and we need to think positive and make sure that our bowlers deliver.”
Waqar stressed his team needed to lift their game after losing both Tests and one-day series in Sri Lanka two months ago.
“We have got a good young side, like the Australians have,” he said.
“I think it will be a good contest because both are sort of in a state of building up for the World Cup. It is an opportunity for both teams.”
Each side have new captains, Shahid Afridi for Pakistan and Aaron Finch for Australia.
Finch said he has an eye on the 2016 Twenty20 World Cup in India.
“It goes without saying that I will do my utmost in this role as captain as we head into the World T20 in 18 months’ time,” he said. “It’s going to be very exciting.”
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