Misbah has called for joint efforts from the Pakistan Cricket Board and former cricketers to seek solutions to the decline in the quality of the team’s batting. PHOTO: AFP
Terming weak batting as the main culprit behind his team’s gradual decline, Misbahul Haq has called for joint efforts from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and former cricketers to seek solutions for more prosperous results.
Misbah, who flew directly to India for the Champions League Twenty20 (CL T20) from Zimbabwe, returned home yesterday along with Faisalabad Wolves teammates Saeed Ajmal and Ehsan Adil.
Pakistan ended the tour of Zimbabwe with a shock defeat in the second and final Test that deprived them of a series triumph.
The Pakistan Test and One-Day International (ODI) captain stressed it was their batting that was pushing them towards a decline.
“We are struggling because of our batting,” said the experienced middle-order batsman.
“Batting has been our weak area for the last one year. We have tried different combinations, but all of our batsmen are struggling.
“We even struggled against Zimbabwe and managed to score 250 runs just once in four innings in the Test series. We must improve in the area to get better results. The PCB and former cricketers need to combine their efforts to overcome this problem.
“Our youngsters need exposure. Not necessarily in international matches, but as I have said earlier, they also need to play in leagues where they will get a chance to play with top foreign cricketers.”
Misbah pointed out similar reasons for Faisalabad Wolves’ failure to reach the main round of the CL T20.
‘Not afraid of losing captaincy’
Although Misbah is in his prime as a batsman, his captaincy skills are again being questioned in the aftermath of the Harare defeat.
However, the 39-year-old said the debate over captaincy did not worry him.
“I never asked for captaincy,” said Misbah. “The board gave it to me and I accepted it. I will not have any issue if the PCB decides to remove me from captaincy. I don’t have any pressure of losing it.”
Asked about his plans for the 2015 World Cup, Misbah stated that the event was far away and he could not add further on the subject.
Misbah, who was the only batsman to shine for Wolves, maintained he had no plans to return to the Twenty20 format. “I will not return to what I have left as all my focus in on Tests and ODIs.”
PCB retains team officials for South Africa series
The PCB gave a one-month extension to Pakistan bowling coach Mohammad Akram, confirming the former pacer as part of the coaching panel for the home series against South Africa in the UAE.
The board also retained former captain Moin Khan as the manager of the team.
A PCB official said the decision was taken in the light of the court order that refrained the caretaker setup to appoint or terminate any official.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 23rd, 2013.
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To all those who are asking for Afridi as captain, We should not have people who have very little control over their emotions and actions, as leaders. What an embarassment it was when the captain of the national team was chewing ball shamelessly, Misbah has brought dignity to the national team and now they play with respect and have a better win-loss ration then prior years.
For all those people who are saying afridi should be captain needs to be reminded that that is the same guy who give up the captaincy during the test match and regularly gave irresponsible statements,caught redhandedly on the camera in live match while biting the cricket ball,ln a test against england was again caught on camera while damaging the pitch.one day he wants captaincy the other day he doesnt want.He is the most overrated player of pakistan.
@Cricket Fanatic: Didn't know Cook was a aggressive captain. If only agressive captain could have done the trick than Brandon Taylor from Zimbabwe and Mushifqur Rahim from Bangladesh are more aggressive than even cook and Sangakkara. What fails them to produce result?
@Cricket Fanatic All the teams you have mentioned have good batting line up as well but here Misbah is the only one who is performing !
Misbah is not responsible for batting failure over many years. In many cases we had seen Misbah came when Pak 3 4 down, what you expect from him win the match single handed.
Whereas We need a better captain..
We need an aggressive captain, Make Afridi captain, get rid of Misbah, Hafeez, bring in Sohaib Maqsood, Sharjeel Khan and Rameez Raja Jr, Hammad Azam and Raza Hassan. It will give this apk team a new freash and aggressive look.
@Cricket Fanatic Sangakkara is not captaining Sri Lanka.
Dude we need aggression in the team and hence Afridi is the need of the hour lead Pakistan in the 2015 WC..Misbah is so defensive as a captain that the team ultimately starts to play defensively hence loosing wickets..even attacking players like jamshed and shahzad all are forced to play to save their places in the team..Look at the other teams:
Sri Lanka - Sangakkara South Africa - AB Devilliers India - Dhoni Australia - Clarke England - Alistair Cook
The top 5 teams in the world today?what is common between them?All their captains are the most attacking batsmen and bring aggression to their teams..all of whom have played 140-150 run knocks.. If Misbag is that great a batsmen..even when 4 players get out for 50..why cant he score a century and lead from the front to make the team stand at 280-300??..beyond me..
Guys, show some maturity in reading the situation. Look at our stats, we loose 3 or 4 wickets in 50 runs on the board. In this situation what a captain should do is, to play time and save wickets. This is why Misbah starts slow and get the team in a stable position.
I think the problem with other batsmen, they need to show maturity and play their part. Openers should play save and build innings, we need to hit 300 + score in Test every time without fail.
The other situation is our domestic structure and selection. We have many good players who have performed in domestic circuit and sitting on the benches, Sohaib Maqsood, Anwar Ali, they all need to get more chances.
Make performance a criteria and then drop big names, like Hafeez, which are paper tigers and give chances to new generation.
Mishab is a very talented, physically and mentally fit Captain.
Mr. hapless / helpless fan, be careful what you wish for.
bring back Umar Akmal in tests. Make him captain in ODIs and T20s.
No kidding! that's a revelation! And I thought we were having trouble with lady luck.