KARACHI: Pakistan skipper Misbah ul Haq came under fire from former players on Wednesday for his tactics and defensive approach in the 2-1 one-day international series defeat to Australia.
Pakistan lost the deciding match by three wickets on Monday, missing a good chance to record their first win against Australia in a limited over series in 10 years.
Former captain Wasim Akram said Pakistan was short of bite.
"You need aggression to beat Australia," said Wasim, a member of the team which won 2-1 in Australia in 2002. "Misbah is not batting well and not showing aggression in captaincy," Wasim added
Wasim had taken 502 one-day and 414 Test wickets in his career and was one of the best left-arm fast bowlers ever to play the game.
"At his age Misbah needs to play his remaining cricket with a big heart," said the 38-year-old veteran cricketer.
Pakistan had lost 4-0 to England and 3-1 to Sri Lanka earlier this year.
Wasim also criticised the decision to promote an out-of-form Shahid Afridi to number three in the third match.
"Afridi is playing as a bowler these days as he is not in the best of form with the bat, so sending him at number three was a mistake and I don't understand the strategy of sending Kamran Akmal low in the order when he can be good as the opener," said Wasim.
Former paceman Sarfraz Nawaz also criticised Misbah’s approach.
"It was his defensive approach that cost Pakistan the series," said Nawaz.
"Pakistan had a good chance of beating Australia but they lacked planning and aggression," he further added.
Former batsman Basit Ali put the blame on coach Dav Whatmore.
"I think Whatmore's ability as a coach has been exposed in this series," said Ali.
"I used to think that he was a good coach but his planning was not up to the mark," he added.
COMMENTS (16)
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Misbah is not an aggressive batsmen and even as a captain. His poor batting performance has cost us the match. Misbah were u playing a test match or you are playing a decider match. Misbah has wasted lot of deliveries, in every crucial match he misses lot of balls. He is not a match winner, Misbah is a MATCH LOSER.
Please for God Sake, PCB should take swift actions before world cup; Following are steps: 1-Remove Misbah from all formats 2-Remove both useless Akmal brothers(who only play politics in team) 3-Remove Shahid Afridi as he is no use in team. 4-Get Gul back, along with Hammad azam & Babar Azam in team. 5-Get Asad S. mind fix and let him know you score u stay in team, 6-Remove a chucky coaches (Whatmore, Fountain & Akram) 7-Replace them with better coaches, also get bowling coach Shoib Akhter. 8-our ex-wicket batting keeper cannot build a keeper? (Rashid & Moin should support) 9-Get Muhammed Amir back in team along side with Junaid Khan. 10- Replace Umar Akmal with shoib Malik or replce with Kamran Akmal. kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal are the big disappointments in our team
@A2Z: that's just a reference, you ARE a TRUE Pakistani, just overly sensitive about everything and ready to blow up and come up with conspiracy theories of all kinds.
don't agree with akram, why blame misbah every time, he send afridi up the order because openers had set up nicely and at that time there was a need to keep attacking the bowlers, but again so-called "boom boom" failed.If misbah himself comes out i am sure you would had criticize him for slowing things down and not promoting big hitters up the order and about Mr. Basit i can only say that he is not even qualified to criticize the coach, he better shut his mouth!
"one of the best left-arm fast bowlers ever to play the game" Correction pls: "one of the best fast bowler ever to play the game" ET - always biased against Pakistan. Remove .pk domain name from your url and don't label yourself as Pakistani news paper.
Yes please.
Correction please: Waseem Akram is 46 years old, not 38 :)
I think winning and losing is a part of game and when anyone loses any game it can be criticized in a number of ways but we should always encourage positive criticism. It’s not easy to lead Pakistani team where you find many players alleged in match fixing and grouping whereas great player like razzak and muhammad yousaf are not selected without any valid reason. As far as misbah’s captaincy is concerned it seems he is not a match fixer so he should be encouraged and guided by his seniors rather than criticizing.
Attacking cricket stopped by Pakistan, ever since we have captains like Inzi, Shoaib Malik, and now Misbah! They never attack other team, only play conservative style of cricket, that doesnt always pay off! Little bit planning and attacking cricket can save Pakistan against any team!
not fixed?
That looked a dead straight LBW in the replays but not in real time. It looked to be one of those that was "just hitting the leg stump". Yes it was Misbah's defensive approach that cost Pakistan the match. But I'm sure the coach could have gotten a message out to attack more!
Mr Wasim Should be the one to talk. Apart from your credentials as a cricketer , the highlight of your captaincy would be the tradition of throwing away matches for a little dough.
Captain's take risks and that is what Misbah did. They sometimes pay off they sometimes don't. Wasn't bringing Afridi in at that point the sign of an aggressive captain taking risks ? The commentators and most of the match analysts were in agreement with his decision as the situation was tailor made for Afridi. He failed to perform. Rather than holding him accountable you'r holding the captain responsible? Had he not brought in Afridi , a new narrative would have appeared blaming him for discriminating against Afridi and not utilizing his potential.
P.s , If Afridi was so out of form , he should have been dropped out of the team like Younis was.
Pakistan lost the match because your batsmen did not deliver and the team was shabby on the field. This is not news for any one having seen Pakistan play before as this has always been our team's weakness even under your prestigious captaincy sir. He may not be the best captain Pakistan has had, but please let your criticism indicate that it is based on the knowledge of the game rather than a personal dislike.
In early to mid eighties, Wasim Akram burst on cricketing world as a young 17 or 18 year old fast bowler. At the time, I marveled at his talent and luck because I was almost the same age. Now nearly 30 years on, you state Wasim as a (and I quote) "38-year-old veteran cricketer''.
I am again marveling at this fact given that I am now almost 47 years old.