Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said that the difference between Pakistan and India during his playing days was that the Indian batsmen used to play to secure their place in the side whereas the Pakistan batsmen played for the team, as they always had the backing of their captain, especially under Imran Khan.

Inzamam was speaking to former Pakistan teammate Ramiz Raja during a talk show on the latter’s YouTube channel. The latter asked about the current crop of Pakistani players have some great talent but sometimes being too afraid of failure, leading to the team having to often pull off a win in near-impossible situations.

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Responding to this, Inzamam said that players should take one series at a time and they succeed in one then they will have their place and they will be dropped if they fail, they will never be able to play to their best ability. He spoke about how Imran Khan would never drop players after a bad series or two and how that allowed them to play better back then.

Trying to explain his point further, he brought up the comparison with India.

Inzamam explained, “During our time, India had a very strong batting line-up than us on paper. Our record as batsmen was not better than theirs. But if one of us made even 30-40 runs, we made it for the team. If an Indian player scored a century, it wouldn’t be for the team, he would be playing for himself. That made a difference.”

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He further explained, “Now our players are scared of losing their place. They think they only have one or two innings to make their mark, so they don’t realize what the team needs. That is why, if the captain and coach are on the same page, they can give players a sense of security and confidence to play according to the team’s needs.”