Salman says captaincy no ‘hassle’

LEEDS: Salman Butt has insisted captaining a young Pakistan side shouldn’t be “that much of a hassle” when he leads the team in the second Test against Australia at Headingley.

Salman was thrust in to what is widely regarded as one of the most difficult jobs in world cricket after former captain Shahid Afridi quit the five-day format after the team’s 150-run loss in the first Test at Lord’s last week.

Former vice-captain Salman, a 25-year-old opener who scored Pakistan’s only two fifties at Lord’s, will become his country’s seventh Test captain in three years when the Australia finale starts today.

However, he takes over a team without former captains and senior batsmen Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan, both suspended following the team’s 3-0 series loss in Australia earlier this year.

However, Salman, said that he is not overwhelmed leading a side that has less experience.

“I think I should enjoy it because it’s a challenge. It’s a young unit and shouldn’t be that much of a hassle.”

Pakistan’s batting catapulted to 148 in the first innings as they dished out a 105-run first-innings lead to Australia before managing 289 in the second.

“For myself, I have to carry on the way I was playing at Lord’s. The last innings we played at Lord’s was a better result, even though it was a large total of 440 that we were chasing.”

Asked about his captaincy style, the 25-year-old said, “I like to make my points clear but you don’t become a dad when you become a captain. But you always have to keep on thinking.

“Every captain has his own way. There’s no point criticising or discussing others, let’s see how I go about it.”

Pakistan, who are set to see Shoaib Malik back in the team as Afridi’s replacement, have lost their last 13 Tests against Australia – a record for one country against another that stretches back to 1995 – and the left-hander was clear about what they needed to do to end that streak.

“We have to bat longer, put some more runs on the board. The bowlers have always done well against the Australians, it’s just the tail we have got to get out a bit quicker,” added Salman.

Meanwhile, Australian captain Ricky Ponting wants his frontline fast bowlers to keep their cool if the ball starts swinging in the Test. “If you want to be critical you can probably look at the fact that we got 11 wickets out of Watson and North in the game,” said Ponting.

“Our fast bowlers probably tried a little bit too hard I think in conditions that were suiting the quicker bowlers.

“That can happen at Leeds as well because you know this is a place that can nip about a bit for the seamers. We’ve spoken about that a bit.”

Asked about the new Pakistan captain, Ponting said, “We don’t know what to make of him as captain. I thought he played really well last game.”

Although Australia’s batsmen struggled at Lord’s, Pakistan, fared considerably worse.

“When you are brought up in Pakistan you don’t generally see the ball seam around and swing around like it did last week,” said Ponting.

“With the inexperience they have got in their batting, in their three and number four guys making their debut last week, we also feel we can get the Akmal brothers [Umar and Kamran] pretty early as well when they come in, if we expose them at the right time.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2010.