Ponting is vulnerable, Hughes has technical issues: Waqar

In a bid to pile up pressure on Australia, Pakistan’s bowling coach Waqar Younis has claimed that Aussie captain Ricky Ponting is not in his customary form, and young batsman Phillip Hughes is yet to resolve his technical issues.

The Dawn quoted Waqar as saying that although he regards Ponting as a champion, the 35-year-old looks vulnerable since he was struck on the elbow by West Indies tearaway Kemar Roach in Perth.

The 40-year-old Pakistani coach said his seamers had studied Ponting’s recent dismissals, and concluded he was not his usual imperious self.

“He is one of the greats, and you can’t say [he’s in decline]. Yeah, it is definitely in the back of his mind that he has been hit and he is vulnerable, and that is where you want to cash in,” Waqar said.

“Great players don’t really give much of a chance, and we have seen a chance. We’ve seen it against West Indies when he got out at short leg,” he added.

“Hughes is a fine player [but] is very young and he has got too many strokes sometimes, when you look at it,” Waqar said.