Imam-ul-Haq cites Rohit Sharma as an example for Pakistan cricket to look after its players

Imam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan left-handed batsman, said that the national team’s players go out on the field with a ‘fear of failure’ at the back of their minds. The southpaw feels that it’s one of the reasons behind the side’s lacklustre shows at times. As per Imam, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should look at how Indian batsman Rohit Sharma was treated when the latter wasn’t in the best of form.

In the first-half of his career, Rohit oozed confidence and promised a whole lot. However, he couldn’t show enough consistency owing to which his credentials at the highest level was questioned. But after he was promoted up the order, the Nagpur-born’s career turned around. Putting him as an example, Imam said that PCB should improve its communication with the players.

Rohit didn’t do well initially, but came good later: Imam-ul-Haq

“Our team has a fear of failure, although that is my personal assessment, which is why players don’t perform consistently. They are worried about getting dropped from the side after two or three poor performances,” Imam was quoted as saying during an Instagram Live session, reported by Cricket Pakistan.

“Communication gap between the board and players also results in inconsistency. This is not the case with other teams around the world. If you look at the example of Rohit Sharma, who did not do well initially in his career but India trusted him and he came good later,” he added.

Rohit currently has around 14,000 runs for Team India to go with 39 centuries and 74 half-centuries. He made his debut back in 2007 in the tour of Ireland and hasn’t looked back ever since. He is the only batter to amass three ODI double centuries and four T20I tons. Rohit has also won four Indian Premier League (IPL) titles for the Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.

Imam, on the other hand, has emerged as a bright prospect as well. In his ODI career, the 24-year-old has 1,723 runs in 37 matches at an average of 53.84 with seven tons. In T20I and Test cricket though, the Lahore, Punjab-born is yet to make a mark. Imam also scored a century against Bangladesh at the Lord’s back in the 2019 World Cup.