Mahmood: Pakistan players play for themselves

Former Pakistan allrounder Azhar Mahmood feels some players in the national side are playing for themselves and not for the team, which could be a reason for the side's declining form.

Mahmood, who played 21 Tests and 143 ODIs, saw first hand the mood in the national team as he was the bowling coach at the recent World T20 in India.

Pakistan were eliminated from the global event before the knockout stages which has led coach Waqar Younis to resign and Shahid Afridi to quit the captaincy.

Mahmood wrote in his latest blog on PakPassion.net: "One of the aspects that was a real concern was that some players are playing for themselves and not for the team.

"This stems from the team culture and the lack of trust and results in players only thinking about their own position in the team and not what the team's requirements are.

"At the moment very few of the players are willing to play for the team, as they are too busy worried about their own position in the team.

"For too many players personal goals are coming ahead of the team goals. Batsmen and bowlers should be setting themselves challenging goals, looking at the number of hundreds they will score and the number of 5fers they are targeting."

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