Lahore, Sep 19 (IANS) National cricket coach Waqar Younis is confident that Pakistan will be able to defeat England in the upcoming three-match Test series in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
According to Waqar, although the England team are in excellent form having recently won the Ashes series, the Pakistan players will have an advantage due to their knowledge of local conditions in the UAE.
“More than the limited over series in Zimbabwe, we are totally focused on the Test matches against England. It is a very important series for us and I just want the team to repeat the form they showed against Australia and New Zealand last year,” Waqar was quoted as saying by the Daily Times on Saturday.
“I am confident we can win this series against England if we play the way we did against Australia and New Zealand. Our players are used to the pitches in UAE and if we look at the number of centuries scored by Younus Khan, Misbah-ul Haq or Azhar Ali in Tests I think we can do well,” he added.
“They (England) have some quality players but I think conditions in the UAE are different for them while for our players it is like a second home since we have not been able to play in Pakistan.”
The fast bowling legend opined that although Pakistan would rely heavily on their spinners to test the English batsmen, they will not feel the absence of off-spinner Saeed Ajmal who had played a key role in the 3-0 destruction of England when the teams last met in the UAE in 2012.
“I think our spinners particularly Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar have done very well in recent matches and we are counting on them to repeat their form as well. And they have played Tests against England. But we also have two young spinners to back them up in case of any eventuality,” Waqar asserted.
“I think our spin resources are more than adequate and the pitches there will assist them. Dubai is a bit different but we also have dependable resources in the pace department as well.”