LAHORE: Worrying little about his place as opener, in the presence of two other openers Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Farhat Taufiq Umar on Wednesday saidh healty competition among players was vital in strengthening the team.Yes, there should always be competition [among players] and I believe impressive performance plays crucial role in giving one place in the team. And only those players who perform [well] will get the chance,” Taufiq told the media in response to a question prior to a training session at the national camp at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Wednesday.“In the presence of competition, every member of the squad wants to concentrate on his performance, and this creates a healthy competition among the players 30 year old Taufiq added.Hafeez and Taufiq have emerged as opening partners for Pakistan in the recent past after former captain Salman Butt was banned by the ICC for 10 years over a spot-fixing scandal that erupted in August last year.However, for the coming tour of Zimbabwe Imran Farhat has been recalled to the national side after almost one-year absence, resulting in a competition-like situation among the three openers.Taufiq reckoned the Pakistan team, selected for the Zimbabwe tour was well balanced, and hoped the team would earn good results.“We are undergoing strenuous training at the camp under head coach Waqar Younis and Ijaz Ahmed [yet to be officially announced as assistant coach] and hopefully all the boys will be in good shape before facing the Zimbabweans in their backyard,” the left-handed batsman who has featured in 31 Tests and 22 ODIs so far, stated.To a question, Taufiq did not agree to the impression that openers had failed to give Pakistan good starts in Test matches.“If you see record of the last seven Test matches or so you will say that openers have given a good starts to the team, which played important role in achieving big totals Taufiq remarked while admitting that naturally it was difficult to give a good opening stand in every innings
