Ramiz Raja calls Misbah's captaincy 'stale' after Pakistan loses to Zimbabwe

Former cricketers lambast team's dismal performance against Zimbabwe.


Reuters September 14, 2013
Ramiz Raja said there is a growing predictability and staleness about Misbah's captaincy. PHOTO: AFP.

KARACHI: Pakistan's captain Misbah-ul-Haq and his players came under fire after losing the second test to Zimbabwe on Saturday and dropping to sixth in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings.

"Misbah has given all he could to Pakistan cricket as captain. There is now a predictability and staleness in his captaincy and our brand of cricket," former captain Ramiz Raja said after the unexpected, 24-run defeat in Harare.

"This is the right time now to have a new captain and introduce some new players. The defeat is embarrassing, frustrating and shameful."

"No one likes to back a losing side," Ramiz added.

"We need to rethink our priorities and set a new direction or else people will stop following cricket."

"We have hit rock bottom as a cricket nation," former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar said, while Mushtaq Ahmed said he feared for the team in the test and one-day series against number one test nation South Africa starting next month in Abu Dhabi.

"If we can't beat Zimbabwe then we are going to face a torrid time against South Africa," former test leg-spinner Mushtaq said.

The win allowed cash-strapped Zimbabwe, who had not beaten a top test-playing nation in more than a decade, to square the two-match series.

"We played our worst cricket against a nation that is struggling with internal problems and whose players were not even in the right frame of mind for this series because of their pay dispute with their board," former wicketkeeper-batsman Rashid Latif said.

COMMENTS (21)

Dr. Asad Sadick, Germany | 10 years ago | Reply

As long Pakistan team was winning under Misbah, his capaincy was lauded and noted fresh. All of a sudden when it loses for no fault of Misbah, it has gone stale. Load of crap!

roomi | 10 years ago | Reply

Pak beat England 3-0 and a winning combination was born. Misbah and Mohsin. Pakistan team was bundled out for 99 and still won the Test match.Such was the combination. PCB changed the team. Removed Mohsin and the support staff and since then ofcourse the team is going up and down. The ONLY consistent thing is MISBAH's batting! I dont care how old he still is the best Batsman we have and probably one of the best fielders. One also feels somehow bowlers have lacked the killer instinct although Abdul Rehman's inclusion was good. If Pakistan had scored the 25 extra runs they would have broken a record in chasing 4th innings totals.

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