Present Pakistan team not good enough: Mudassar

KARACHI: Former Pakistan opener Mudassar Nazar has advised the cricket community in the country to stop living in a state of denial and accept that the present national team was not one of the best outfits in recent times.Mudassar, 54, who played in 76Tests and 122 one-day internationals, said people must accept that the recentresults of the national team are reflection of the fact that the team was not asstrong as it once used to be and that they were playing badcricket."Everytime we lose we look for excuses, that the spot-fixing allegations are affecting the players, there are groups in the team andthis and that happened, but the fact is that the team is not good enough,"Mudassar said in an interview from Dubai.He also rubbished reportsthat there were groups and differences in the team."They are people,who, whenever they want to change the captain or have changes in the team, go onabout differences in the team. I think 90 per cent of the time this is notcorrect. We are losing because we are not playing well and are not good enoughat the moment."Mudassar, who is now a coach at the ICC Global Academy in Dubai, also made it clear that there were problems with the composition of the present one-day team for the series against South Africa."You need more impact players in the team, players who aredifferent in style, method and the way they approach the game. That is the keyto success," he said."Winning or losing is a habit, andunfortunately, we have lost so many times that it has become a habit for ourteam. It is never easy to get out of this habit and, for this to happen, some ofthe senior players need to put up their hands and take on the responsibility,"he said.The former cricketer also felt that one-day captain Shahid Afridi should lead by example in all departments - batting, bowling and fielding."It is clear some of the more senior players like Afridi,Younis (Khan), (Abdul) Razzaq need to stand up and take charge. When theyperform they will lead the others out of this losing habit," he said.