Pakistan can beat Aussies at home: Raja

With Australia no longer the awe-inspiring side they used to be, Rameez Raja feels Pakistan have a golden opportunity to beat the world champions in their own backyard in an upcoming Test and ODI series later his month.

"In the past our players went to Australia knowing they were playing against the best team in the world but now this mental block is not there in their minds and they have the potential to beat the Australians if they play consistent and positive cricket," former Pakistan skipper Raja said.

"The conditions in New Zealand and Australia are not that different and our players will now be in touch and in practice, which is a big plus point for them," he said.

Talking on the captaincy of Mohammad Yousuf, Rameez said it was too early to judge him.

"The only thing I hope is that he will move away from this draw mentality. It is a fact that when you have a temporary captain his main priority is to ensure he does not lose matches," he said.

"But I think we need to have a winning mentality and we should also soon have a youngster leading the team if Younus Khan is not available," he added.

Qadir slams Waqar's nomination as fielding coach

Pakistan's former chief selector Abdul Qadir has criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board for appointing pace great Waqar Younis as the team's bowling and fielding coach for the upcoming tour of Australia.

Qadir said although a great bowler of his era, Waqar should not have been handed the post as he was not a very good fielder in his playing days.

"I would be the first person to welcome any move if Waqar is given a proper posting by the Pakistan Cricket Board but I don't agree with the move to appoint him as bowling and fielding coach mainly because we already have two coaches with the Pakistan team who were bowlers," he said.

"(Coach) Intikhab (Alam) and (Assistant coach) Aaqib (Javed) are bowling coaches so what message is the board sending them by bringing in Waqar now into the team?" he asked.

"The team needs a proper batting and fielding coach right now and I think former Test player Ejaz Ahmed would have been the right choice to be sent to Australia as batting and fielding coach as he has done well as the youth team coach and he was a good batsman and outstanding fielder in his playing days.