Mushtaq Ahmed says spinners will play a key role in the World Cup 2015

Mushtaq Ahmed says spinners will play a key role in the World Cup 2015: Mushtaq Ahmed the spin bowling coach of the Pakistan cricket team has been reported by the PTI saying spinners will have a crucial role to play in the upcoming ICC cricket world cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand.

Though the tournament is to be played in Australia and New Zealand, where pitches and conditions both favor the faster bowlers. Ahmed believes spinners will definitely have a role to play in every teams strategy.

Mushtaq Ahmed told the PTI that, “With the passage of time spinners have become necessary attacking and containing options in every country in the 50-overs format. The reason for this is primarily because the behaviour of pitches nowadays in ODIs is more or less standard with a few exceptions here and there,”

When asked about the Pakistan team which will be without its leading spinner in the world cup 2015, Sawed Ajmal and Mohd Hafeez face ban from the ICC as both of them were found bowling with an illegal bowling action and were adviced to change it and get their names cleared off the list. He said,”Obviously because Ajmal, Hafeez and Shahid Afridi have carried the brunt of the spin bowling for Pakistan in one-day internationals in recent years so it will make a difference.”

Agreeing to the vacuum created due to unavailability of these star players Ahmed maintained that there is enough spin talent in the Pakistani ranks to fill in the vacant spots.

“I think the way Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah responded in the recent Test series against Australia and New Zealand it shows we have talent. Now it is up to the national selectors to decide what to do for the World Cup,” he further said.

In its first game at the ICC cricket world cup 2015, Pakistan will be up against arch rivals and neighbours’ India who have always in world cup history found ways of getting better of Pakistan. On their plans and preparation for that particular game Mushtaq said,

“It is our opening game of the World Cup against India and if we do well it will serve us well in the rest of the tournament,”
“But it would be a folly to just focus on preparing hard for the opening match against India and we will have to go into the World Cup with clear cut plans for every opposing team only then can we hope to do well in the tournament,” he completed saying.