Former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has said he is hopeful that Pakistan will reach the first or second position in all formats very soon.
During an interview with PakPassion, the 41-year-old spoke about the current Pakistan team and captain Babar Azam, who is doing a great job leading the teams in all three formats.
The Pakistan national team is ranked fourth, fifth and sixth in T20Is, ODIs and Tests, respectively. Razzaq feels that the team has shown remarkable improvement in the batting, bowling and fielding departments.
Razzaq, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa team coach, also said that it is important to appoint a single coach for all formats because having different coaches will make things difficult for players.
“I feel that the Head Coach should be the same across all formats, but you can have assistants and other supporting staff who are specialists in a specific format which helps players. Having separate Head Coaches will only make the players uncomfortable.”
“We only have to look at the likes of South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka and England who are now in the middle of a similar rebuilding phase as us. We saw how South Africa are faring of late, so thankfully Pakistan is not at that stage and I am very happy that our batting, bowling and fielding has shown a marked improvement.”
Razzaq further stated that he feels a team can reach top rankings if they perform well in all the departments of the game.
“To me, the secret to reaching the first or second position in ICC’s rankings in all formats is to improve in all three facets, in much the same way as Australia was dominating all other teams about 20 years ago. I am hopeful that the way things are going, Pakistan will reach the first or second position in all formats very soon.”
The Pakistan team is currently touring Zimbabwe for a two-match Test series along with a three-match T20I leg. They have won the T20 series 2-1, and in the first test match, they won by an innings and 119 runs.
