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No problems with the team: Miandad

Pakistan coach Javed Miandad has dismissed suggestions that his relations with senior players in the team are bad and expressed confidence that his team will do well in the Coca-Cola Cup tournament at Sharjah.

"My relations with senior players are fine. In fact, the relationship was never as bad as it was made out to be," he told the Khaleej Times.

The veteran, who scored more than 8,000 runs in Test cricket, said Pakistan's fortunes could only improve after a long and hard season of losses. "If I am reading things correctly, Pakistan has already started to peak and the recent defeats are well past us," he said.

Miandad, who took over from Intikhab Alam as the Pakistan team coach after its loss to Sri Lanka in a home series, said "I know my job pretty well and nobody in Pakistan can dispute my knowledge about the game. Ever since I took over, things have started looking up for us and I am sure the momentum will be maintained."

"At the moment," he added, "I am determined to lift the team and get them back to winning ways... I am working hard on the batting and fitness problems of the team. I make the boys sweat at the nets and work minutely on the small technical details of their batting and fielding."

"I am sure my professional approach towards the game will fix whatever problems we have," Miandad said. Some of the youngsters in the team are showing promising signs, he said. The idea was to keep giving them chances to prove themselves and to build a better future for the team.

"You can never predict about a one-day game or tournament.. But all the boys know that winning here in Sharjah will do a world of good for their confidence for the forthcoming tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh."

UNI