Poor strategy was responsible for the drubbing Pakistan got from Australia, says former Pakistan captain and coach Javed Miandad, adding, a low on confidence team would now have to cover a lot of ground to make an impact during the upcoming tour of India.
"There have been some good individual performances here and there on the Australian tour but, overall, it has been a disappointing tour. The confidence of the boys must be down after losing the Test and one-day series," Miandad said in Karachi on Monday.
Pakistan, who were whitewashed in the three-Test series before finishing as losing finalists to Australia in the tri-series that concluded on Sunday, will leave for India on February 25 to play a three-Test and five-match One-Day International series.
"It is up to the boys to lift their confidence level and motivate themselves for the tour ahead. It is going to be tough because if victory can take your confidence sky high, it touches its lowest ebb in case of defeat, particularly when the margins of defeats are so big.
"But that is what international cricket is all about. You win some, you lose some and move on," said Miandad, who was the coach of the Wasim Akram-led team on Pakistan's last tour to India in 1999.
Miandad, who was unceremoniously sacked and replaced by South African-born Englishman Bob Woolmer last year, took a swipe at the team management.
"The basic problem with the Pakistan team is that it has been so badly and regularly shuffled that when the selectors sit down to finalise the squad for the Indian tour, even they would not know which player to select for which position."
The former captain said instead of shuffling players now and then, the team should have persisted with specialists.
"I blame the team management for this scenario. Australia is a difficult place to play cricket and therefore, they should have persisted with specialists.
"I mean Shoaib Malik was batting at No 3 until the Australia tour but Mohammad Hafeez took over from him. Kamran Akmal was coming down the order but he was sent as an opener. Younis Khan was considered a one-day batsman but was played in Tests. By sending inexperienced batsmen on top of the order, you are not only putting pressure on those players but on the entire team."
All this reflected that the team management had absolutely no clue or confidence in its players.
"These were signs of panic," he added.
Miandad said there appeared to be no game plan in the way players were picked and handled.
"I mean, the players [Danish Kaneria and Asim Kamal] who established themselves were sent home. It [team management] does not know the simple thing that you don't change players after they have settled down in Australian conditions."
However, another former captain Wasim Akram had words of encouragement for Inzamam-ul Haq and his team.
"Historically, the Australian tour has always been a difficult tour on which we have faced different problems. I have toured 15 odd times during my career and every time I have encountered a different problem.
"But while saying this, Australia is also a huge learning place and I am sure the youngsters must have learnt a lot which will help them in future," Akram said.
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