Waqar asks senior players to improve or perish

Karachi:

Beleaguered coach Waqar Younis gave a dressing down to the senior players of the Pakistan team and asked them to either leave cricket or shape up their performances at the international level.

Well informed sources in the national team presently touring England said that Waqar had come down really hard on his players after the team lost the first T20 international at Cardiff.

"Waqar was very angry and pointedly told some senior players that if they can't improve their fielding or performance they should leave the game," one source said.

The Pakistan team, which is facing lot of pressure after the suspension of Test captain Salman Butt and pace bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir in the spot-fixing scandal that broke out after the Lords Test, lost the first T20 match by five wickets.

Sloppy fielding by senior players including Shoaib Akhtar and Abdul Razzaq saw Pakistan lose a grip on the match.

"Waqar was angry as he felt the senior players in given situation had not pulled their weight," the source added.

Another source said that some of the players were not very happy with the outburst by Waqar and conveyed this to manager, Yawar Saeed.

"The players feel that at a time when the players need support of not only the people but also of the management the attitude of the coach was not acceptable and would not help the situation in the team".

Captain Shahid Afridi also spoke to the players and calmed them down and made it clear to them they also needed to perform and deliver as the team needed to win to take the people's mind off the spot-fixing and betting issues.

Afridi had also met with the three suspended players before leaving London for Cardiff and discussed their current position.

"All the three pleaded their innocence and said they had been trapped. I told them that if they were innocent they should not run away from the media and face them in the face.

"I had a separate meeting with Mohammad Amir and told him he had been stupid to put his promising career at stake for whatever reasons," Afridi told the "Jang" newspaper.