Alam blames excess of T20's, ODI's for poor batting show in Dunedin Test - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Pakistan cricket coach Intikhab Alam has blamed the excess of T-20 and one-day cricket for his team's poor batting in the first Test against New Zealand, which the hosts won by 32 runs. Alam said Test cricket is all about spending time at the crease and applying one's skill depending upon the situation of the game, but the Pakistani batsmen failed to change gears from the shorter versions of the game to the five day mode. "It's a mental game really for the openers. They've got to stay at the wicket. The obvious reason is that we play too much one-day cricket and Twenty20 cricket. We're not playing Test cricket regularly so you need to apply yourself according to the playing conditions and stay at the wicket ... and try to build your innings," The News quoted Alam, as saying. Pakistan have played 22 One-day Internationals and 13 Twenty20's since January this year, and only five Tests. Alam said he is concerned about the batting more than the bowling attack of his side, which he believes has the potential to bowl the Kiwis out twice in a Test match. "We have a good pace attack that we can bowl New Zealand out twice but I'm concerned about our batting, especially the middle order and opening batsmen.They are youngsters and it will take time but we have to get things together," he said. Meanwhile, captain Mohammad Yousuf is worried by his side's poor performance in the field. Pakistan dropped four catches, including a costly drop by Imran Farhat when Daniel Vettori was on 1 in the first innings (he went on to make 99), during the Dunedin Test match, which affected the outcome of the match to a great extent. "We didn't field well in the first innings and gave away some runs," Yousuf said.