Technical glitches causing batsmen's failure: Muhammad Yousuf

Former middle-order batsman criticised team management for sticking with Muhammad Hafeez as an opener

Former Pakistan middle-order batsman Muhammad Yousuf on Monday criticised the batsmen saying that the players who are currently touring Sri Lanka have faults in their technique which led to their failure in the second Test.

"There is nothing wrong with getting out. Kumar Sangakkara also got dismissed in this series but when he played he looked classy. Unfortunately I can't say the same about our batsmen the way they batted in both innings of the Test," Yousuf said.

"Our players played very badly against the Sri Lankan pace bowlers. Chamira was a bit fast and got a little movement and our batsmen were found wanting. Our batsmen generally have technical faults in their batting and that is why they are not so consistent," Yousuf said.

Yousuf was quite hard on Muhammad Hafeez stating that the right-hand batsman did not have the required potential to open the batting.

"They still keep on including him in the team I think that is because of his added ability to bowl. But now if he can't bowl than I don't see him in the team purely as a batsman," said Yousuf.

Read: Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by seven wickets to level series

Yousuf was also crictical of Misbahul Haq’s comments where he blamed the tail-enders and domestic cricket for the seven-wicket defeat.

"You can't expect the lower-order batsmen and tail-enders to rescue you all the time. They did it in the first Test don't expect them to do it all the time. The onus was on senior players like Younis and Misbah to play long and big innings.

Pakistan’s former team coach Mohsin Khan commended Sri Lanka’s fighting spirit and said that they were very hard to beat on their home ground.

"Our batting once again floundered and it is clear we need to look at where we went wrong. On the first day the decision to bat first backfired while in the second innings the collapse was unacceptable.

The cricketer convert commentator Rameez Raja blamed poor batting for the defeat in the second Test and observed that Azhar Ali, the centurion in Pakistan’s second innings, had thrown away his wicket after batting for so long.

"He should have tried to go on and bat with the lower order. But I think the inability of Wahab Riaz to bowl for most part of the match was a big setback to Pakistan's chances of winning the test and series," he said.

The story originally appeared on NDTV