Pakistan's assistant coach Azhar Mahmood has opened up on their bowling woes in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand. Mahmood, the former all-rounder, pointed out that the bowling like batting is also a partnership and that Pakistan have only been performing individually in that department.
The Men in Green did manage to pull one back out of the four T20Is against the Kiwis but have already lost the series. Out of the four games, they have conceded 200 twice and have struggled batting first on the remaining couple of occasions.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the fifth and final T20I, Mahmood claimed from 2:47:
"Hum jab bowling unit ki baat karte hain, humne individual performances di hain. Haris ne perform ki hai par dusre bowlers ne waise performance nahin di. As a bowling unit, hum waise perform nahin kar rahe hain, jaisa karna chahiye. Yeh sabke saamne hai, yeh honesty hai. Ek banda acchi performance kar raha hai toh dusra banda nahin kar raha hai. Yeh bhi ek partnership hai, aapke 3 bowler acchi bowling kare toh chances ho jaate hain ki wickets bhi le sakte hain or match bhi jeet sakte hain."
(If we talk about our bowling unit, players have performed individually. Haris has bowled well but the same performances have not come from others. As a bowling unit, we are not performing like how we are supposed to. It's honesty and it's there for people to see. This is also like a partnership and if all bowlers perform well and take wickets, chances of winning increases.)
"We have lost the series, we’re not out of any tournament" - Azhar Mahmood
Mahmood also claimed that they are highly motivated to make the series 3-2, adding:
"Our job is to motivate the players, and we are working hard to ensure that we finish the series with a 3-2 result. We have lost the series, we’re not out of any tournament."
The ODI series between Pakistan and New Zealand begins on March 29 in Napier.
