Misbahul Haq to retire after India series

Test captain has announced his plans to part ways with international cricket after match with traditional rivals

Mr Calm of Pakistan cricket, Test captain Misbahul Haq has announced his plans to retire after the series against arch-rivals India, scheduled to take place at the end of the year.

"I know very well that there is not much cricket left in me. Yes, I want to play a few more Test matches as I look forward to life beyond cricket. But there is a plan.

"If the series against India happens, I want to play that series and probably retire from international cricket. So India series can be my last one," said the 41-year-old Misbah.

Misbah, who stepped down as T20 and ODI captain in 2012 and 2015 respectively, talked about the different facets of being an international cricketer who only plays the longer format.

"You can view this aspect from two sides. If I talk about the difficult part of it, it is the gaps that might affect a cricketer's form. Take a player, who plays all three international formats. That cricketer is playing round the year and is effortlessly switching from one format to other.

"But when you are just playing Test cricket, it becomes a challenge since there will be gaps. You straightaway cannot get into the groove but it's hard work as you don't have it easy in Test cricket. That's the difficult part," feels Misbah.

"Now coming to the positive aspect of playing only Test cricket. There are enough gaps for you to think, just go back to the drawing board and work on your game."

"When you constantly play three international formats round the year, there might be technical errors that develop in one's game. Once you get time off from the game, you can take corrective measures," said Misbah,

Misbah, who has an impressive record of 4000 runs from 52 Tests, says that one of the biggest highlights of his career would be captaining his country to their highest-ever-run-chase – 377 runs in the fourth innings- against Sri Lanka at Pallekele.

"It was a very big achievement for us," said Misbah, who scored an unbeaten 59 including a six that ended the match.

"It was probably one of the biggest achievements of my international career, being a part of such a win.

“It is never easy to chase a target of 377 in the fourth innings. You also have to keep this in mind that Sri Lanka had a very good bowling attack. You need to have a disciplined mind-set and execute your plans in such a big chase.

“It was really satisfying," said Misbah.

The Test captain is also elated by the presence of Yasir Shah and feels that the leg-spinner has the potential to become a world beater.

"Yasir is a very talented bowler. He has shown what he is capable of. What I would expect from him is consistency over a lengthy period of time. If he can show this type of consistency in the coming years, he will be counted among the top-class leg-spinners in world cricket. The other area that he would also have to work on is adapting to various conditions," Misbah concluded.

This article originally appeared in NDTV.