Pakistan’s Asia Cup 2018 campaign will begin on the second day of the tournament against Hong Kong.
As the Asia Cup is progressing on with less than a week to spare for the teams to prepare for the big Asian showdown, teams are getting planned with strategy makers and thinkers thus like veteran Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik who has put forth the blue print of success for the team.
It was nothing but three tactics for Pakistan according to Malik; these are – batting first, taking three wicket taking bowlers in the playing eleven and an elongated innings from one of the top three batsmen.
“I feel the 50-over cricket now is also like T20,” Malik said.
“The batsmen try to take the potential that they have gained from the first ball to the end. No team can be taken lightly. There should be at least three wicket-taking bowlers who can strike in the middle-overs too. In high-scoring games, one of the top-three batsmen should be able to score big and the rest of the batsmen can build the innings around him. Our top-three batsmen are in top form now,” he said further.
Pakistan has have the advantage of playing at ‘home condition’ albeit away from home because of their prolong habituation of playing home series in the United Arab Emirates since terrorist attack jolted the country over a decade ago.
But Malik dismissed the favorability of condition to Pakistan saying limited over cricket in UAE has become quite difficult for them as well.
“We have thoroughly dominated in Test cricket in the UAE. But, ODI cricket becomes difficult for us,” the all-rounder said. “It is easy to bat under sun as compared to batting under lights there which is why our ODI graph is on the lower side.
