Former Pakistan cricket team captain Waqar Younis has raised questions on the team’s pace attack as they aim to bounce back in the three-match Test series against Australia. After a humiliating defeat against the Aussies in Perth, Pakistan needed to go back to the drawing board as they set their sight on the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). They suffered another dent in their preparations for the MCG Test with pace bowler Khurram Shahzad out with a rib injury.

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Waqar concerned for Pakistan’s pace attack

“The thing that I’m worried about is that always when we come to Australia, one thing that excites is the fast bowling and this time around I’m not seeing that. I’m seeing medium-pacers or slow-medium-pacers, allrounders, there’s no real pace. People used to come and watch Pakistan pace bowlers really running in hard and bowling 150 clicks [kph], and that’s what I’m not seeing there,” he said on ESPN’s Around The Wicket show.

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The 52-year-old also spoke on Shaheen Shah Afridi’s poor run with two wickets for 172 runs. According to Waqar, he should make necessary changes to his game plan while emphasising to even take time out if he is not fit.

“I’m not really sure what’s wrong with him. If he’s not fit, if he’s got some issues, he needs to take a break from the game and fix that because if you are going to carry on like that you are going to become a medium-pacer. He used to bowl 145-150kph and used to swing that ball. What I’m seeing now, yes there’s a little bit of swing but his pace is way down… and that is not going to get him wickets,” added the former Pakistan coach.

Shan Masood’s Pakistan will now have a tough task in hand if they are to make a comeback in the series. The 360-run defeat in Perth has seen Pakistan trail by 1-0 in the three-match series. The Boxing Day Test will be a big litmus test for the visitors considering a defeat could see them lose the Test series with the World Test Championship (WTC) qualification also on the agenda.

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