Win over Australia is beginning of a new era: Waqar

Sun, Jul 25 10 04:21 PM

Karachi, Jul 25 (PTI) Pakistan''s cricket coach Waqar Younis believes that his team''s first Test win over Australia in 15 years is the beginning of a new era for the game in the troubled country. Waqar said from London that the hard-earned victory in Headingly showed that the "new culture" which has been introduced in the Pakistan dressing room has started to bear fruit. "All the players have been told clearly that no one is allowed any personal agenda in the dressing room. Every player has to play for the team and for the country and we don''t expect anything less from anyone," Waqar said. "Clear guidelines have been laid out that if any player tries to spoil the dressing room or team environment he will have to face severe consequences," he added. The former Test captain, who took over as coach after the troubled Australian tour, said what had happened in the past is now history. "Now no one is allowed to have his own personal agenda except performance. Because at the end of the day we owe it to the Pakistani nation to deliver. No one can win all the time and no one expects us to win all the time. But we must give our best in every match, we must show commitment as a team," he said. Waqar, who was bowling coach on the Australian tour in the aftermath of which the cricket board banned or fined seven players for indiscipline and misconduct, said he was happy that the board was also backing the team management on disciplinary issues. "There has to be discipline in the team and there is a change taking place in the dressing room and that is why I say this narrow win is a good start for us," he said. Waqar said he was satisfied with the performance of young players like Muhammad Aamer, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin and Azhar Ali. "I think players must know they will get a fair chance to establish themselves and they will perform if they have talent. Aamer no doubt is one of the most exciting finds in Pakistan cricket for a while now, he bowled brilliantly in spells at Leeds," he said. Waqar said captain Salman Butt had led the team maturely and scored crucial runs and that mattered a lot.

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