Misbah’s captaincy has become a burning question for some of the former cricketers. PHOTO: AFP
Echoing Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) caretaker Chairman Najam Sethi who rubbished criticism following Pakistan’s loss in the second Harare Test, manager Moin Khan defended the team’s performance in Zimbabwe terming it as ‘satisfactory’.
The tourists’ 24-run defeat in the final Test that deprived them of a much-needed series victory drew heavy flak as former cricketers rued the shock loss to a weak opposition.
Erstwhile speedster Shoaib Akhtar said Pakistan ‘hit rock bottom’ by losing against the struggling side but the team management appeared unfazed with the shock loss.
Former captain Moin, who accompanied the team as manager, backed the players’ performance.
“I don’t think our level is going down,” Moin told reporters at the Karachi airport upon his return from Zimbabwe yesterday. “We didn’t play well in the matches we lost. The team lost the One-Day International (ODI) game because unfortunately we didn’t perform both in bowling and batting; we were 25-30 runs short while in the Test our batting didn’t do well. In contrast, Zimbabwe played well in these matches by exploiting their home conditions well. But, overall I will say our performance was satisfactory. There is no need to apologise as we didn’t lose any series.”
Moin backs Hafeez and seniors
The former captain backed underfiring Mohammad Hafeez, saying he hoped the senior all-rounder would regain his form in Tests soon.
“I wouldn’t say Hafeez is failing consistently. He has been performing well in the Twenty20s and ODIs.
“Yes, his Test form is concerning but I know Hafeez is keen and a hardworking cricketer who will strive to regain form in the format.”
Moin further said he was happy with the performance of the senior players who were rested for the tour. “The seniors played well, especially Younus [Khan] and Misbah [ul Haq]. I am also happy with the performance of youngsters Khurram Manzoor and Rahat Ali.”
On Dav Whatmore whose planning as the head coach is also under severe criticism, Moin said, “It wasn’t my domain. But I feel mistakes do happen. Whatmore is working on it and I hope he will rectify his mistakes in the future.”
Asad Shafiq, Manzoor and Faisal Iqbal were among the team members who returned from Zimbabwe.
Debate for change in guard in full swing
Meanwhile, captain Misbah is once again on the forefront of receiving criticism that questions his leadership qualities.
Former captain Asif Iqbal believes Misbah was a spent force in the ODIs.
“I don’t think there’s room now for Misbah in the one-day side,” Iqbal told Pakpassion.net.
“He should be replaced as captain in that format. I don’t think performances by the one-day side have been good enough recently under Misbah and a fresh outlook is needed in the fifty-over format. As far as the Test side is concerned, Misbah should continue as captain.”
Meanwhile, another former captain Zaheer Abbas also called for changes in captaincy and team management. “I think both captain and coach have been given enough time,” he said.
“Misbah has been showing individual performance. A good captain or a player is the one who helps his team win with his contribution.
“Whatmore lacks proper planning and it’s time to bring a new coach.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 17th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (13)
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Zimbabwe put in an improved peformance against Pakistan after the Indian whitewash weeks back. They learnt a lot from the Indians. They had some good bowlers with genuine talent. The Pakistan team mentioned Zimbabwean conditions being helpful to the home side. That's true. The toss is key at Harare Sports club. The loss of Younis Khan in last innings on day 4 was also key. Zim was due a win in both tests and one day and it worked out that way. Maybe guys should credit a Zim-side rich on game time because there have hardly been any changes in playing personel which has helped. On a crumbled pitch Pakistan resorted to boundaries and something had to give eventually
Pakistan did not do well in the Zimbabwe tour. reasons for that are many. Poor batting skills, bowlers not performing etc. However the howler is moin khans response that we performed well. Since Moin was the manager of the team he could not criticize the team. It is frustrating to read comments from ex players criticizing at the first opportunity. However when they come in power all of a sudden everything is fine. The journalists have to stop interviewing these faded stars and hopefully they will disappear.
The next Test team should be.
1) Sami Aslam 2) Nasir Jamshid 3) Fawad Alam 4) Younis Khan 5) Umar Akmal 6) Haris Sohail 7) Adnan Akmal 8) Umar Gul 9) Junaid / Wahab 10) Saeed Ajmal 11) Raza Hasan
ODI: 1) Ahmed Shahzad 2) Nasir Jamshid 3) Fawad Alam 4) Umar Akmal 5) Umar Amin 6) Hammad Azam 7) Shahid Afridi 8) Umar Gul 9) Hafeez / Raza Hasan 10) Saeed Ajmal 11) M Irfan
@Shan: Dont forget Younis!!
if misbah wouldnt be there pakistan wouldnt win the west indian series,they wouldnt make past 100 in the champions trophy,misbah was the reason pakistan won the warm up match against scotland,if misbah wasnt there we would have lost the test by 100 runs.i could go on....
This is the same guy (Moin) who outcried to sack coach and captain when we lost to number one team in the world (south africa). Now he got a job in the PCB and we lost to the worst test team in the world he's saying different story!
In my opinion, Younis Khan should be made Captain for Test and ODI formats. He is the only player who always looks positive and wants to support any player when at the crease. We need him to remain Captain till the end of next World Cup tournament. During this Imelda the team should try various new domestic players to test their temperament to handle pressure on International levels. That's how we will identify new talent. We can't continue to try players like Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez and hope to get same results. Time is running out for Pakistan to establish the right batting and bowling combination.
Moin can say anything for money, thats why he joined ICL a few years back and was banned, now he is the Pak Manager, what a joke.
Moin Khan is only concerned about his position in the PCB thats the only reason he is not pin-pointing anyone in the team. Moin Khan this is terrible from you...
Of course, now that he is the manager of the team, he will have some nice things to say. He would have been on a roof getting his voice hoarce had he not been. Any and all talk about Misbah is misplaced. Afghanistan will beat Pakistan without Misbah. I wish hey would give the man some credit.
Kick out Misbah, Hafeez, Asad, Azhar from TEst squad.
if standard minus infinity then there is no more digits for further fall.
Come on, get real. Amongst the mediocre players of the current Pakistan team, Misbah is the only genuine batsman along with Younis. How many test did we win when these greats, who are criticizing him, used to play? If he is out of the team, then we will hit rock bottom with the lot available now.