Five-day coaching stint under me will be beneficial: Miandad

Karachi:

Former Pakistan skipper Javed Miandad believes the national team players' five-day coaching stint under him will benefit the side in their quest for the Champions Trophy glory.

"I worked very hard with all the players specially the youngsters and I passed on a lot of my experience and knowledge to them. I am confident you will see an improved and more confident Pakistan batting performance in the Champions Trophy," said Miandad.

Miandad, who is the PCB Director-General, was appointed as batting consultant by the governing council to work with the national senior and junior team batsmen and help them overcome their batting technique issues.

"I laid a lot of emphasis on telling the players to be prepared to play long innings because the Champions Trophy is not T20 cricket. You need to bat sensibly and patiently in the 50-over mode," he said.

One of Pakistan's finest batsman in his playing days, Miandad said he had also prepared the players mentally to counter short pitched bowling on the South African tracks. "We have some very talented and good batsmen who just needed a little fine tuning and someone to point out the little mistakes they were making at the crease," Miandad said.

He said that Pakistan had a good side and if it played sensibly it had the potential to win the Champions Trophy.

"My advice to the team is to take every match as it comes. Don't think about the whole tournament. The focus should be on the happening game. No use worrying about how we will do against India while planning and playing against the West Indies," Miandad said.

"That is how myself and Imran Khan used to guide the players in our days," he added.

Pakistan plays West Indies in its opening match on September 22 and then faces off India on the 26th and Australia on the 30th.

Miandad said he had some reservations over the method of training of the players in the national camp he attended with the players.

"I was a bit surprised to see so much emphasis on gym training. I felt that some of the batsmen have developed muscles that are too strong and tight. I have always believed batting is about pure timing and the more flexible your arm and shoulder muscles and your wrist the better you can play."

Miandad said that all great players were great timers of the ball and he saw too much emphasis on building up muscles and gym training as an impediment to good timing.

"From experience I can say stamina and mental endurance is the most important aspects of a cricketer's physical training. But I guess the methods of training have changed now due to the changed trends in modern day cricket," he added.