‘We have to improve overall in red and white-ball cricket’, says Misbah

Pakistan cricket team head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq thinks that the national side in order to excel has to improve overall in red and white-ball cricket.

While reviewing Pakistan’s performance in 2019 in a video released by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Pakistan ended this year on a winning note against Sri Lanka but it was a tough year for Pakistan in Test Cricket.

“Pakistan ended 2019 on a high note with victory against Sri Lanka, but, overall, it was a tough year for Pakistan in Test cricket,” He said.

He also identified the flaws in white-ball after the main players not performing up to the expectations and the winning ratio which went down in T20 cricket.

“In white-ball cricket our mainstays like Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan, on the back of whom we had won the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, lost form at a crucial time which saw us suffer in the ODI World Cup and T20I format. Though, we managed to stay number one in the format throughout the year. Overall, our win ratio in T20I cricket has fallen,” He added.

Going into 2020, head coach thinks that the future is bright and the evolution of Babar Azam as a star is good for Pakistan cricket.

“Going further we have to improve a lot of things in both red-ball and white-ball cricket. This team has enough potential and new boys are also making their way in international cricket. There’s certainly a bright future ahead for us,”

“The emergence of Babar Azam as a mega star across all formats is very good news for Pakistan cricket. He remained number one in T20I cricket and is in the top ten batsmen in the ODI cricket. He played some brilliant innings in the World Cup and ended the year by establishing himself as a Test batsman with scintillating performances in Australia and two centuries against Sri Lanka in Pakistan,”

Misbah is happy on the arrival of promising bowlers of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah in the Test cricket.

“Some of the new bowlers like Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi have arrived at the scene and they have been impressive in Test cricket,”

“Naseem got five wickets in the last Test against Sri Lanka. Shaheen bowled well in the World Cup and he showed glimpses of being a Test bowler in South Africa, and bowled really well in Australia and here in Pakistan against Sri Lanka. We will hopefully bank on these two promising fast-bowlers in the future,”

Misbah believes that despite not having a great run in T20 in 2019 but being the Number one T20 side, they can build on this going into the next year ICC World Cup in 2020 in Australia.

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