LAHORE — Pakistan coach Waqar Younis believes the team was missing off-spinner Saeed Ajmal as it makes a belated return to playing international fixtures at home. Ajmal was overlooked for the groundbreaking series of two Twenty20 games at home against Zimbabwe, having struggled last month against Bangladesh as he tried to implement a new bowling action due to official scrutiny of his previous suspect bent-arm action. Ajmal is also unlikely to be part of the three one-day games against Zimbabwe next week. "I don't think so you will find (another) Ajmal in near future, it's definitely a thing which is missing," Waqar said after Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by five wickets in the first Twenty20 Friday. It was the first international cricket match in Pakistan against a major team since an attack on Sri Lanka's team bus in Lahore in 2009. Ajmal had been mainstay of Pakistan's bowling with 85 wickets in 64 Twenty20s and 184 from 113 ODIs. However, the off-spinner looked to have lost bite in his bowling with his remodeled action. "You have to bring on youngsters and we have 2-3 youngsters like Imad Wasim, he is another find," Waqar said. A dancing, boisterous crowd of 27,000 at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore enjoyed the powerful hitting of opening batsman Mukhtar Ahmed, who hit 83 off 45 balls as Pakistan reached the target of 173 for the loss of five wickets and three balls to spare. The spectators endured several checkpoints to enter the stadium and at least 4,000 security officials were on hand. "We are all proud of Lahorites, we are all proud of our nation," Waqar said of a disciplined crowd. "We have to keep patience maybe the crowd faced some difficulty while coming to the ground but the way whole Lahore watched this match and enjoyed it, hats off to them." Pakistan team received a thunderous applause from the home fans as it entered the stadium more than two hours before the start of the game. "The welcome we got at the Gaddafi Stadium it was hard to control emotions," Waqar said. "Your emotions are different when you play in front of your own crowd and I told the players they have to concentrate on the game." Younis also appreciated the efforts of Pakistan Cricket Board and his government in convincing Zimbabwe to come to Pakistan. "It's a big achievement on part of both the PCB and the government that the Zimbabwe cricket team came," he said. — AP
