Srinagar: Former Australia pacer and now Pakistan bowling coach Shaun Tait has backed out of form pacer Hassan Ali.
Tait has said that Hassan is doing everything right and it is just matter of taking wickets.
“There’s never, never a shortage of hard work, personally, that’s for sure,” said Shaun Tait told ESPNcricinfo.
“I think it’s a bit of an illusion, too, because I think I’ve sort of just got a bit of time, obviously, with the boys recently, and I’ve watched them pretty closely, and I think he’s bowling quite well,” he said.
“So it’s just a matter of taking wickets, right, so if he runs it and takes wickets, the media and the public all of a sudden they’re like, ‘Oh, he’s in great form’. So now we don’t want to think about that too much. They’re all bowling well, so there’s no pressure there.”
Hasan had a forgettable series against Australia in March. He took only two wickets averaging 96 in two games.
Tait also stated that despite the conditions in Sri Lanka favouring spinners, he is expecting his fast bowlers to do well.
“I think obviously it’s not a place renowned for fast bowlers to go and take bags of wickets usually. But I think as a pace bowler you’ve got to go in with a positive mindset. You know, when you get your opportunity to bowl your spell, get it right, take a breakthrough. Obviously, with spinners, Sri Lanka will do their job anyway. We’re just going as positive as we can. We’ve got a good fast-bowling group. There’s no reason for us not to be excited about the contest,” he concluded.
The two-match Test series is scheduled to start on July 16 at Galle.