Jason Gillespie, who was appointed Pakistan's red-ball head coach in April this year, revealed that the start of his new job has not been easy.
“It's been a tough initiation, and Pakistan haven't been playing well for a while now. Look, it's a challenge. There's no doubt about that, but it's an exciting one,” he told The Telegraph.
With the harsh defeat against Bangladesh by 2-0, that too at home, Pakistan's Test captain, Shan Masood has faced criticism and his leadership qualities and capabilities have been questioned.
However, Gillespie seems to be impressed with Masood's ability to communicate with his team and how he “has got a very clear plan on how the Test side should play and we are completely aligned on that.”
"There are things people don't see and I've been really impressed by his communication with the players and how he's gone about doing his job," he added.
Gillespie also listed down key points through which Pakistan can tackle England in the three-match Test series against the side starting on Monday at Multan.
The head coach, in an interview with Britain's The Telegraph conveyed that he knows the English players are going to come on to his team full force but if Pakistan just keeps hanging, then they will have a good chance against good teams.
“We know England are going to go hard. But if we can just keep hanging in there, keep being disciplined, strike at the right moments, go for the gap, so to speak, and get on top in games then we can mix it with really good teams,” Gillespie said.
The head coach also believes that Pakistan matches up "okay" against England, also thanking the team for visiting the country for a three-Test series.
“I'm very confident that we've got good quality players. We just need to show our faith and our belief in them, and we need to show a bit of patience,” the red-ball coach stated.
Squads:
Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Mohammad Huraira, Saim Ayub, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood (captain), Aamir Jamal, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Abrar Ahmed, Mir Hamza, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Shaheen Afridi.
England: Harry Brook, Joe Root, Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley, Ben Stokes (captain), Chris Woakes, Rehan Ahmed, Ben Duckett (wk), Jamie Smith (wk), Jordan Cox (wk), Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson, Jack Leach, Matthew Potts, Olly Stone, Shoaib Bashir.
Pakistan vs England Test series schedule:
First Test: 7-11 October, Multan.
Second Test: 15-19 October, Multan.
Third Test: 24-28 October, Rawalpindi.
