Islamabad: Grant Bradburn, the head coach of the Pakistan cricket team, acknowledged that while they may have a group of talented individual players, they have yet to develop into a cohesive and formidable team.

Following Pakistan's loss in the fifth T20I match against New Zealand, he further explained that the players need to come to terms with the reality that they have not yet reached the level they aspire to be. “We have a team of champions, we don't have a champion team as of yet. And that's what we're looking to build,” Bradburn said in an interview with a local TV channel.

“We've allowed the realisation or the acceptance from our boys, that we're not the team where they want to be as yet, if we want to contest and win the World Cup, we want to go to number one, every format of the game, our game is going to have to lift, our players are going to have to lift [themselves],” he added.

Bradburn also expressed that in order to excel in the upcoming World Cup and Asia Cup this year, Pakistan needs to alter their style of cricket. “As we have played over the last year, particularly in this [T20I] format, it's got us to third in the world. It's got us to two finals, so we are not where we want to be. And therefore, you know we are going to bring some subtle changes, some subtle demands,” he said.

"We're going to support the players with clarity, but we're also going to demand them to lift themselves and get better. If we bring the game that is been successful for us over the last two or three years, we will come second and we will go backwards. We have to understand what brand of the game we need to play in Asia Cup and World Cup. And we need to adapt to that very quickly,” he added.

Published in The Daily National Courier, April, 26 2023

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