It
was in March last year that he took over as Pakistan’s coach and since then the
national team has been through a major crisis that came in the form of a spot-fixing
scandal involving three of its leading cricketers.
Remarkably,
during that 12-month period, Pakistan have also achieved a series of positive
results including back-to-back Test and one-day series wins against New Zealand
in the lead up to the World Cup. Baring a poor outing against New Zealand, the
Greenshirts have also done pretty well in the World Cup.
So
what’s Waqar’s mantra to get the best out of his team? “It’s
all about motivational things, patriotism – I talk to them a lot about it, to
make them realize that there are 170 million people watching you, just bear
that in mind, people who are supporting you so that whenever you do anything
bear that in mind. Do your best.” From
a distance, Waqar comes across as a hard-task master as he keeps pushing his
players during training sessions. But the former Test pacer also has a softer
side.
“I
do shout at them, especially when it comes to discipline,” he said. “But they
are not kids, right? You have to approach them, lecture them in a softer way.
Without discipline you cannot work properly.
“In
our time probably there were problems, but things have changed. We have
changed, but cricket has also changed so much. Once 230 was enough, now 330 is
not enough. It has become a lot different.
“You
cannot rely on sheer talent. You need a lot more training. Look at bat speeds?
Look at AB de Villiers’ bat speed and the shots he plays! Once, Zaheer Abbas
and Javed Miandad used to casually play shots here and there but now you cannot
just do that. It is a power game now.” Unlike
the last few World Cups, Pakistan have sent a completely home-grown coaching
staff for the 2011 tournament. But Waqar is of the view that foreign trainers
can prove beneficial for his players.
“Westerners
do help for sure, they are fine coaches. Richard Pybus was a great man
management person. Bob Woolmer did a wonderful job. I think you still need a
few foreign people to come in. They bring in different ideas and they are more
professional.” Waqar believes that
Pakistan will have to take a ‘new start’ even if they go on to win the World
Cup.
“Even
if we win we have to think about how to go further we still have to take a
fresh start, in either case.
“I’m
going to give the PCB a kind of plan, a plan of action to improve cricket or
try to improve it here. I want to sit down with chairman, selectors and we have
to start working on a different wavelength because it can’t really go on like
this.” Waqar, who took 373 Test
and 416 one-day wickets during an illustrious career, has great hopes from his
players, adding that cricket fans back home are also aware of the team’s
potential.
“Everyone
is watching us, no matter how bad we may be or people think we are, people back
home are still watching. The nation knows we have potential in us. We’ve got
potential, good blood. We have good spinners, good pacers. It’s just a matter
of hitting the right areas at the right time, the right zones.” Waqar, 39, sees his job as something close
to a marriage.
“The
first year it takes to understand people and probably takes you a year to get
the feel of it. It’s a very difficult job, it’s not an easy job especially
nowadays. International cricket is so important now, it’s very enjoyable and
very satisfying at times, it can also be full of pressure and very difficult.
It’s literally like a marriage.”
Waqar
believes Pakistan can benefit from more experts and trainers.
“I
will probably need five or six Waqar Younis around me, screaming around, kick
people, motivate them, you need motivational people who can help me out. To
sort things out, you need people. You take England and their backroom staff,
they have 13-14 people helping them out. A squad of 15, with 13-14 others so
the coach is just sitting there, helping the team out. He just sits there,
probably just thinking things through. I don’t want to do that. I want to be
more involved. I want to hit catches, work with the batsmen, the bowlers and in
fielding.”
