NEWS
COLUMNS
INTERVIEWS
SCHEDULES

Miandad confident of doing well

Pakistan coach Javed Miandad dismissed suggestions that his relations with senior players in the team are bad and expressed confidence that his boys will do well in the ongoing Coca Cola Cup cricket tournament.

"My relations with senior players are fine. In fact, the relationship was never as bad as it was made out to be," he told Khaleej Times.

The veteran batsman, who has more than 8,000 runs to his credit in Test cricket, said the fortunes of his team can only improve after a long and hard season of losses.

"If I am reading things correctly, Pakistan has already started to peak and the recent defeats are well past us," he said.

Miandad, who took over from Intikhab Alam as Pakistan coach after its loss to Sri Lanka in a home series, said: "I know my job pretty well and nobody in Pakistan can dispute my knowledge about the game. Ever since I took over, things have started looking up for us and I am sure the momentum will be maintained."

He said: "At the moment, I am determined to lift the team and get them back to winning ways...I am working hard on the batting and fitness problems of the team. I make the boys sweat in the nets and work minutely on the small technical details of their batting and fielding.

"I am sure my professional approach towards the game will fix whatever problems we have. You can never predict about a one-day game or tournament...But all the boys know that winning here in Sharjah will do a world of good to their confidence for the forthcoming tours of West Indies and Bangladesh."

UNI