Islamabad
Pakistan’s head coach-cum-chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq believes it was very important for a player’s development to play the longer version game, saying at the end of the day Test records were considered as compared to the one-day international (ODI) and Twenty20 cricket.
“It is very important for players’ to play the longer version game as you limit yourself by playing only shorter format cricket. Players’ career prolongs by playing Test cricket and at the end of the day nobody thinks of the Twenty20 or ODI records but Tests.” “People remember of how many 100s Mohammad Yousuf did and Younis Khan scored 10,000 runs or Wasim Akram bagged 500 wickets in Test cricket. If you want yourself to be remembered in the World then you have to play Test cricket. We are trying the players’ to focus on the longer version game,” he said in an interview to Cricingif.
He was of the view that a player cannot develop his skills from league, ODI or T20 cricket. “If you play your domestic cricket which is an investment for the longer version game, then you can develop yourself and your career will be prolonged and T20 and ODI cricket will become easy for you,” he said.
Speaking about Pakistan’s prolific batsman and limited-overs Skipper Babar Azam, he said the Lahore-born cricketer was in the learning process.
“Ranked in the top 5 of all formats, shows that Babar definitely has the game’s awareness. The more he will play the more refine he will get. I see him going in right direction,” he said. To a question, Misbah said wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan was being rewarded for his hard work. “He has performed consistently well in the domestic cricket and has worked very hard on his batting and wicket-keeping,” he said.
He said the best thing about Rizwan was his temperament. “He takes challenges and he has the mindset to win the game for the team and do something extraordinary.—APP
