West Indies have a weakness in dealing with the spin bowling, says head coach Aaqib Javed
\nMULTAN
\nHead coach Aaqib Javed brushed aside criticism of Pakistan\u2019s reliance on spin bowling as they seek a clean sweep against the West Indies in the second Test starting on Saturday.
\nPakistan completed a 127-run win inside three days in the opening Test, with spinners Sajid Khan taking nine wickets, Noman Ali six and Abrar Ahmed five for their third straight win at home.
\nWest Indies left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican also grabbed a career-best 7-32 as 34 of the 40 wickets in the match went to spinners.
\nThe second Test will also be played on a dry and grassless pitch in the central city of Multan.
\nFormer Pakistan players and analysts hit out at the spin-heavy strategy, saying the team would struggle on away tours where pitches may not be as conducive to spin.
\nAaqib, a fast bowler from an era dominated by the great pacemen Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, insisted the spin assault would continue.
\n\u201cWe found that the West Indies have a weakness in dealing with the spin bowling, so we exploited that and will do that again,\u201d Aaqib told a news conference on Friday.
\nWest Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite had no qualms about Pakistan\u2019s tactics.
\n\u201cPakistan are playing at home and if they believe spinning pitches are their strength then that\u2019s fine and that\u2019s how cricket is played,\u201d Brathwaite said.
\n\u201cI have played on pitches which took turn from day one but not like this, which had cracks from day one,\u201d he said.
\n\u2018Believe in your plan\u2019
\nWest Indies will be without injured pace bowler Jayden Seales, who took three wickets in the first match and will be replaced by the experienced Kemar Roach.
\nPakistan are unlikely to make any changes.
\nBrathwaite said his batters need more faith after the first Test, in which his team managed just 137 and 123 in their two innings, with Alick Athanaze the only one to reach a half century.
\n\u201cIt was a difficult pitch to bat in the last game,\u201d Brathwaite said.
\n\u201cI would say you need to believe in your plan from ball one and not think of the third or fourth ball.\u201d
\nPakistan are eighth and the West Indies ninth and last on the World Test Championship table.
\nAnother victory in Multan could see the hosts rise to seventh.
\nPakistan were forced to make radical changes last year after losing the first of three Tests against England, their 11th straight home Test without a win.
\nThe Aaqib-led selection panel dropped out-of-form batter Babar Azam and rested pace spearheads Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah.
\nThe tactics worked on the spin-friendly pitches in Rawalpindi and Pakistan went on to win the series 2-1.
\n\u201cIf we had taken these decisions earlier we would have been in the race for World Test Championship final,\u201d Aaqib said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
West Indies have a weakness in dealing with the spin bowling, says head coach Aaqib Javed MULTAN Head coach Aaqib Javed brushed aside criticism of Pakistan\u2019s reliance on spin bowling as they seek a clean sweep against the West Indies in the second Test starting on Saturday. Pakistan completed a 127-run win inside three days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-457464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n