Lack of seriousness over fielding proving costly for Pak team, says Alam

Melbourne, Dec. 28 (ANI): While Pakistani team's poor batting display on Sunday left the side in considerable trouble against Australia at the MCG, coach Intikhab Alam reckons that weak fielding is proving to be the Achilles Heel for the team, but "people don't take it seriously enough" in Pakistan.

"This is a grassroots problem in Pakistan and people don't take it seriously enough, but we are trying. The problem has been there for a very long time. We are trying to sort it out in Pakistan but there is not enough emphasis on fielding at domestic level yet," The News quoted Alam, as saying.

Pakistan dropped two critical catches on Saturday, and these mistakes helped Nathan Hauritz and Michael Hussey take the innings away from Pakistan, says Alam.

"Our fielding was very disappointing and it is the weakest department of our game," Intikhab said. Had we taken two early catches it would've been different," he said.

On Sunday, Pakistan lost four wickets, including that of captain Mohammad Yousuf in the last over of the day, after Ricky Ponting's declared the innings halfway through the day.

Alam said Yousuf's dismissal was crucial to determining the mood of the day.

"He was out, no doubt about that. You could see it very clearly in replays. But it was very sad, in the last over, a very important batsman. But we have made things difficult for ourselves. It is still a very good batting track," Alam said.

"Our openers did well, but then they threw their wickets away and this is not a pitch where you can give wickets away when chasing 454," he added. (ANI)