Inzamam

Islamabad: Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has disapproved of the Pakistan Cricket board’s decision to send four upcoming fast bowlers to India to training under former Australian pace-bowling legend Dennis Lillee.

Inzamam instead wants the board to use the services of former fast bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis to train the bowlers.

“Pakistan has produced fast bowlers of the highest quality and Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis are the best choice to train these bowlers,” he said.

Inzamam said that in his 15-year international career, he had not seen better fast bowlers than them. He also said that Pakistan had their own cricket academy and that it would be better if bowlers from other countries came and got training there.

The skipper also urged the PCB to take effective measures to check the trend of suspect bowling actions in domestic cricket.

“Thank god Shoaib Malik has been cleared, but Shabbir Ahmed is still under threat. This is a serious problem and should be checked at the domestic level,” he was quoted as saying by a local daily.

On the dressing room incident during the tour of the West Indies tour, Inzamam said they were minor ones.

He supported stand-in captain Younis Khan and said as skipper he (Younis) had had the right to send Shahid Afridi as opener in the first Test. He also denied that he had been involved in the brawl inside the dressing room.

Inzamam acknowledged that Shoaib Akhtar was needed by the team for the series against England, but said that he would have to prove his fitness.

“Shoaib is still a match-winner and a threat for opponents,” he said.

Talking about the central contract, Inzamam said it gave positive results and added that he would request the PCB to increase the number of players from 16 to 20.

“The inclusion of more players in the central contract pool will push the players to keep themselves in practice and match-fit,” he said.