Lahore, Apr. 12 : Pakistan cricket coach Intikhab Alam is of the view that speedster Shoaib Akhtar should not be pressurized to perform ahead of the forthcoming series against Australia.

"We will be looking closely at Akhtar's fitness and how he comes along in the first match. We don''t want to put extra pressure or burden on him. We will try to nurse him through the series as we have other important competitions coming up as well," The Nation quoted Alam, as saying.

Lahore, Apr. 10 : Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam and captain Younis Khan have different views about playing conditions and pitches in the UAE.

While Alam, recently, visited Abu Dhabi and Dubai to inspect the pitches for the series against Australia, and said Pakistan will have an advantage over the visiting team, Khan made it clear that performance will matter even if provided home conditions in the UAE.

Lahore, Apr. 9 : Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam has said the Australian Cricket team''s bench strength allows them to rest their top players for a series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Referring to Cricket Australia's (CA) decision to rest Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey, and Mitchell Johnson, Alam said: "Even without three key players, I believe they are a very good side."

The Australian selectors have recalled Andrew Symonds, Brett Lee and Shane Watson as replacements.

Lahore, Mar. 12: Terming match referee Chris Broad’s statement on the Lahore terror attack as ‘appalling’, Pakistan cricket coach Intikhab Alam has sought an apology from Broad.

“I must say that I was hurt by Chris Broad’s appalling allegations against Pakistan as well as our cricket team after the incident. He must apologise for those comments,” The News quoted Alam, as saying.

Karachi, Feb. 7 : Pakistan's cricket coach Intikhab Alam has warned his players against any complacency during the forthcoming Test series with Sri Lanka, that might creep- up due to the islander team's drubbing by India in the on-going ODI series.

Alam said that Test matches are different from one day games, and Sri Lanka was capable of turning it around with several world-class players in their squad.

"Test cricket is a different ball game altogether. You can't predict the performance of a side in Test matches on the basis of its one-day showing, at least not Sri Lanka," The News quoted Alam, as saying.

Karachi, Feb.