November 04 Monday 2002
Former stars hope Hanif can do trick for Pak batting 

KARACHI: Former Test stars on Sunday hailed Pakistan Cricket Board's decision to appoint Hanif Mohammad as Pakistan batting coach and hoped the legendary Little Master would improve the skills and technique of Pakistan batting to desired effects. 

"Hanif Mohammad is an institution and I hope his legendary figure would help the team batting improve to the desired standards," Miandad said. PCB on Friday appointed former legendary batsman as senior team batting coach. 

Hanif, 67, would fly to Zimbabwe before the first Test and his services are aimed at improving the patience level and technique of the batsmen. It is now up to the players how much they can benefit from his experience. "The board has done the right thing by identifying the technical flaws of the young batsmen and by appointing the best teacher," Miandad, himself a batting legend, said. 

Hanif played 55 Tests for Pakistan and scored 3915 runs with a highest of 337, still Pakistan's highest Test score and Test cricket's longest innings.

This is not the first time that an international team will have a batting coach. Sri Lanka gave two stints to former South African great Barry Richards while Australian Bob Simpson worked with India as consultant. 

Pakistan had hired the services world renowned Daryl Foster as bowling coach while Zimbabwe had hired Australian Jeff Thomson and Carl Rackemann as bowling consultants. 

"The batting coach can only point out the mistakes and can work on the batsmen to get them right. But it remains the job of the batsmen to deliver in the field because that's the area where a coach cannot do much," Miandad said.

Hanif hoped youngsters would learn from him. "My job is not to change their techniques because they know how to bat. The only thing I would do is to tell them what is needed to bat longer and tell them the demands of international cricket," Hanif had said after his appointment. 

Another former Test batsman Haroon Rasheed termed the step as positive. "Its one of many positive steps taken by the PCB and when a great cricketer like Hanif would talk to the youngsters they would listen and would hopefully follow the instructions," Rasheed said. "Hanif Sahib's recent coaching at regional academy in Karachi had such a positive impact that some of the batsmen have overcome their basic mistakes and are now scoring runs," he said. 

"Criticising Hanif Mohammad's appointment is for the sake of criticism. This Board has taken help from all the great players like Miandad and Zaheer Abbas," he said. "It is time we forgot differences and worked together. 

We need to narrow the bridge and help raise Pakistan cricket with united efforts," added Haroon.

Former magician leg-spinner Abdul Qadir said Hanif Mohammad is the best guide a team could have. "I think there can be no better guide than Hanif Sahib and his stature is so big that youngsters are lucky to have a teacher like him," Qadir said. It is a positive step of the PCB and would go a long way."