Lahore
Pakistan cricket coach Misbahul Haq urged more nations to tour the country, saying on Monday the sport needs ‘mutual support’ to recover from the coronavirus crisis.
His appeal comes just a week after Pakistan finished a tour of England, where they played three Tests and as many Twenty20 internationals in empty stadiums. During the trip, the squad spent two months in a bio-secure environment after several players tested positive for Covid-19 before the trip.
Even before the pandemic, Pakistan was trying to attract touring teams after militants attacked Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore in 2009. Security has improved, however, and last year Pakistan squared off against Sri Lanka in what was its first home Test in a decade.
Misbah said he hoped teams such as England would consider travelling to Pakistan as global sport slowly returns following months of inactivity. ‘Our tour to England was important for both countries,’ Misbah told a press conference in Lahore.
‘It was also important to support the cricket world in general and English cricket in particular in these testing times of Covid-19. ‘Pakistan also deserves similar support from other countries. These are times when the cricket world needs mutual support.’
Last week, England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Ian Watmore said England should ‘definitely’ tour Pakistan provided it was safe to do so.
Pakistan cricket team’s head coach Misbah-ul-Haq on Monday defended the national team’s performance under his tenure, saying that the team may have come from the number one spot to number four in T20 ranking but the downfall had begun way before he took over the coaching role. Misbah, at a press conference in Lahore, reviewed the team’s recent tour of England and addressed several other topics.
‘Of course, the team was number one but if you recall, when I came even then the team was on a losing streak. The team had already lost in South Africa, England and other places. The slide had already begun and everyone knows why that was. ‘Some of our players were out of form. Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan and then Hasan Ali, the main contributors to our rise up in the ranking, when they went into a slump the team also felt that dip. We’re trying to take these and the new boys back towards that level.’
Pakistan got their first and only win during the last match of the England tour, and while that result might not silence his critics, the man himself says he’s satisfied with the direction the team’s taking under him. ‘There is always room for improvement. Yes, the current results may not be what’s desired but overall the process is up to my satisfaction and it seems that we are on the right track,’ he said.
‘Young pacers need time’ owever, Misbah asked critics to go light on the team’s young pace battery, saying that mistakes made as seen in the first Test defeat are part of the learning curve and inevitable. ‘The bowlers are inexperienced. We’d have to give them room and opportunities. If you take that one session out, it becomes evident that our inexperience panicked. The same thing happened in the second T20 when a bowler of ours got injured, we panicked slightly. With the passage of time as they play more, they will improve,’ he said. The coach also talked about the presence of the nearly 40-year-olds Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik.
‘It’s too early to write off someone because of their age. There is a lot of time between now and the World Cup. We will try out different combinations till then and identify our best 15,’ he said. While Misbah was away with the team in England, a slew of appointments at domestic level were made, which as per some reports, had not impressed the head coach, who purportedly wasn’t consulted. Misbah admitted that he wasn’t kept in the loop but intends to discuss the domestic business with National High Performance Centre Director Nadeem Khan.
‘I was busy with the team there so could not get involved in the matters here. But now I’d sit with Nadeem Khan and discuss how things were done and how they could be done even better. When you’re in a professional setup, the names do not bother anyone,’ he said. ‘You have to work together and adjust. It doesn’t matter what anyone has said in the past. If you keep the past in the mind then you wouldn’t be able to work.’—Agencies
