"Batsmen's failure led to Pakistan's debacle at the World Cup"

"Our batsmen failed to set an imposing total against minnows Ireland besides failing to chase an achievable target too set by the West Indies," the Dawn quoted Talat as saying while talking to reporters.

Talat said had the batsmen shown their true potential, Pakistan would have been in the Super Eights stage of cricket's most prestigious event. Even the depleted bowling attack, in the absence of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, performed well.

Talat neither endorsed nor fully rejected the finding of media manager PJ Mir, who recently said that the players were more focused on religious activities instead of cricket in the West Indies.

"I would not like to comment on the religious activities but I will say that prayers have their own worth and cricket has its own," he said.

The manager admitted Pakistan's preparations for the World Cup were not ideal. "We went to the West Indies with 13 players and among them Shahid Afridi was not available for the first two matches, due to a ban, therefore, I think it was not an ideal situation for any team to prepare themselves for such a huge contest," Talat stated.e disagreed with former Pakistan captain Intikhab Alam's statement that some unfit players were in the squad when they reached the West Indies. "I think Intikhab is not in a position to assess the fitness level of any player from thousands of miles away from the squad," he said.

He also negated the impression that the players were undisciplined at the World Cup.

Meanwhile, in the wake of search for the new captain, PCB chief Tauqir Zia suggested that for short-term planning, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi or Shoaib Akhtar as the best choices, but for long-term arrangement put forward the names of Shoaib Malik and Salman Butt.

There was a dearth of leadership in the team, he opined and added that a junior player should be picked to be groomed till the retirement of the senior captain. (ANI)

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