- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 218,132
“England’s batting is struggling, I feel that the match will be decided by who bats better” : Misbah
Misbah speaking to the press today:
Misbah statement
Overall I am pretty much satisfied with our preparations; To start after no cricket for 3 months , where we started afresh was a wonderful experience; We normally have such boot camps for important series and this period we have spent together has been good for team bonding, and I am satisfied with the practice that we did during this period in which we played match scenario games; The team is in good shape and are looking forward to taking these preparations and putting them into practice. We are looking forward to playing and the real test of our preparation comes when we play; Its a good thing that because of the England v West Indies series, we have got recent evidence to make our strategy against England; I am hopeful that the shape the team is we will do well"
Playing 2 spinners in the 1st Test
The pitch seems to look like it did when England played West Indies here, where we saw that the spinners had a role to play from day 1 and the ball was spinning well; We are also considering this strategy but will check the final look of the pitch today and tomorrow and also examine the overall weather conditions, and then decide; The possibility of playing 2 spinners is very much there and this is also an encouraging sign for us"
Expectations of victory
"I think its good that people have such expectations of victory from us, and such sentiments are good for the team; There are encouraging signs for us when we see ball is spinning and the conditions are dry but this is not a guarantee that we will win here; The only guarantee of a win is when we play good cricket; Facing the England team in their home conditions is not an easy job, but we do have a good chance against them if the conditions are helping us; There are encouraging signs for us based on watching how well West Indies did in the first Test; We need to play cricket to our potential and that is how we improve our chances of winning and that is what we are looking forward to; We need to focus on our basics and on executing our plans"
Danger of boredom of players in bio-secure quarantine
"Obviously when you play international cricket after such a long period, its possible that there is a slight nervousness in players, but once you play some cricket at that level, this feeling goes away; It doesn't matter how much you prepare for it, until the match starts, you will always feel nervous, which is a natural thing; There is no feeling of boredom amongst players; We've made sure that players are rested properly during practice; We have various activities here to keep players mentally fresh in our games room, also players are spending time amongst themselves and they do have recreational activities away from cricket to help them switch off; So until now, players look fresh and they are anxiously waiting for cricket and once they are on the field during the match, the nervousness will also go away"
Pressure on Pakistan batsmen
"Younis Khan and I have told the players that they do not need to create undue pressure on themselves, all you need to do is to go in there and do your best; If you start thinking that you have to score and pre-occupy your thoughts with this then it will be difficult for you to perform; All 6 batsmen need to do their best, and that is an important thing for us"
Babar Azam's ability to handle pressure
"The reason for Babar's success is that he takes on challenges, and has responded well even when extra pressure of captaincy; If we look at his stats in Tests and LOIs, his performances have improved further; We have high hopes that he will continue to play in the same way;
Pakistan batting looking confident
"Also based on their past performances especially in 2016, Azhar and Asad's contributions will also be important; Also Abid Ali and Shan Masood have done well recently in the past 2 series and that confidence will be required in such conditions and in such a difficult series; Our batting is looking confident, based on their wins in the past 2 series so we are hopeful that we can continue with this"
Playing against a tough England side on venues that aren't Pakistan's happy hunting grounds
"Look if you wish to win against a good team, then challenges will always be there; You have to beat the home team in all three departments of the game to win; Obviously are favourite hunting grounds are in London (Lord's & The Oval) but we must also see that conditions were not the same as before during the games in Manchester and Southampton; What we saw now at these 2 venues were dry conditions and where spinners got some help, so just like at The Oval we saw elements of reverse swing and turn at these venues; So conditions are encouraging for us; So we need to see how we exploit these conditions because when we played here in Manchester in 2016, there was nothing for spinners - even on the 4th or 5th day there was no help for spinners; But as we have seen in the concluded series now, conditions are totally different from last time"
Will top-order decide the outcome of the series?
"Overall bowling line-ups for both sides are very strong and in good form; England are playing with a strong bowling line-up and they have even sacrificed one batsman for that too and the idea is that throughout the match, they have the fresh bowlers who can together take 20 wickets; Their batting is struggling and I feel that the match will be decided by who bats better and as we have seen on these pitches that if a team crosses 300, especially in the first innings, then chances of winning are about 70%"
How much will performances in the Intra-Squad games matter for selection in final XI?
"Obviously performances in intra-squad games are important as is a player's current form; Obviously Sohail Khan is bowling well but most important thing is our opposition and the conditions in which we will play the match, these are important for our decision making when it comes to deciding the final team combination which will be most effective for us; The conditions during the intra-squad games were a little different and the conditions were bowling friendly; The conditions in Manchester are different and a little drier and the pitch doesn't have that much grass; We will decide the best combination based on all these factors"
Big opportunity for Naseem, Shaheen to perform and make names for themselves
"Yes this will be a huge opportunity as you only get experienced after going through such trials; England bowling has experience which our line-up does not have but the potential and quality that our bowlers have is no less than that of the opposition; I am confident that even our youngsters will play the same amount of cricket as their English counterparts and perform in the same way in the future; In terms of potential, Shaheen, Naseem and Abbas have proved themselves in whatever cricket they have played so far and they have another big chance to prove themselves in these conditions and stamp their authority to show everyone that they belong at this level of cricket"
Wasim Akram's help
"Wasim Akram always helps out but I am not sure in this bio-secure environment he can come in and help us; Players such as Shaheen and Usman Khan Shinwari are in touch with him via phone"
"As far as my role is concerned, best to concentrate on this series for now"
"Matches will be played on the ground so it doesn't matter what people say about whether we will win or not"
How important is Younis Khan's help for Misbah?
"Younis Khan's presence is important for me especially when you have such a big squad where there are 17-18 batsmen; Younis Khan has experience of playing so much cricket and he knows how to prepare players mentally and also to look after their practice needs for Test matches; He knows when to speak to the players about technical and tactical issues; He is the best man to have in your staff who is tireless and his work ethic is excellent; He has played so much international cricket and was mentally strong, and now he is transferring and sharing all that experience with the players"
How will result of England tour effect Misbah & Younis's standing
"Younis Khan is right in saying that we cannot expect too many changes in any batsman from just one series; All that can be done is fine tuning and slight improvements for any batsman in one series; Overall in terms of tactical aspects and game plans, there will be a difference seen and things should improve in that sense"
"If I were to operate on the basis of thinking that my position will improve or not by result of one series than that will show that I don't have a vision for the future; What we need to be doing is to move forward with a vision to be in the top 3 in all formats of the game"
Final 16 will be announced on Tuesday
"We will announce the final 16 for the 1st Test on Tuesday after looking at the condition of the pitch; The final practice game we played was better for our batsmen and played under Test match conditions; I feel that the pitch for Test match will be much better for batting; Since batsmen have had a difficult time in practice games, they may find the Test pitch easier to play in; Obviously quality of bowling they will face in Tests will be very good but I feel that our batsmen's preparations have been good, and I am hopeful we will play much better in the upcoming matches"
Misbah speaking to the press today:
Misbah statement
Overall I am pretty much satisfied with our preparations; To start after no cricket for 3 months , where we started afresh was a wonderful experience; We normally have such boot camps for important series and this period we have spent together has been good for team bonding, and I am satisfied with the practice that we did during this period in which we played match scenario games; The team is in good shape and are looking forward to taking these preparations and putting them into practice. We are looking forward to playing and the real test of our preparation comes when we play; Its a good thing that because of the England v West Indies series, we have got recent evidence to make our strategy against England; I am hopeful that the shape the team is we will do well"
Playing 2 spinners in the 1st Test
The pitch seems to look like it did when England played West Indies here, where we saw that the spinners had a role to play from day 1 and the ball was spinning well; We are also considering this strategy but will check the final look of the pitch today and tomorrow and also examine the overall weather conditions, and then decide; The possibility of playing 2 spinners is very much there and this is also an encouraging sign for us"
Expectations of victory
"I think its good that people have such expectations of victory from us, and such sentiments are good for the team; There are encouraging signs for us when we see ball is spinning and the conditions are dry but this is not a guarantee that we will win here; The only guarantee of a win is when we play good cricket; Facing the England team in their home conditions is not an easy job, but we do have a good chance against them if the conditions are helping us; There are encouraging signs for us based on watching how well West Indies did in the first Test; We need to play cricket to our potential and that is how we improve our chances of winning and that is what we are looking forward to; We need to focus on our basics and on executing our plans"
Danger of boredom of players in bio-secure quarantine
"Obviously when you play international cricket after such a long period, its possible that there is a slight nervousness in players, but once you play some cricket at that level, this feeling goes away; It doesn't matter how much you prepare for it, until the match starts, you will always feel nervous, which is a natural thing; There is no feeling of boredom amongst players; We've made sure that players are rested properly during practice; We have various activities here to keep players mentally fresh in our games room, also players are spending time amongst themselves and they do have recreational activities away from cricket to help them switch off; So until now, players look fresh and they are anxiously waiting for cricket and once they are on the field during the match, the nervousness will also go away"
Pressure on Pakistan batsmen
"Younis Khan and I have told the players that they do not need to create undue pressure on themselves, all you need to do is to go in there and do your best; If you start thinking that you have to score and pre-occupy your thoughts with this then it will be difficult for you to perform; All 6 batsmen need to do their best, and that is an important thing for us"
Babar Azam's ability to handle pressure
"The reason for Babar's success is that he takes on challenges, and has responded well even when extra pressure of captaincy; If we look at his stats in Tests and LOIs, his performances have improved further; We have high hopes that he will continue to play in the same way;
Pakistan batting looking confident
"Also based on their past performances especially in 2016, Azhar and Asad's contributions will also be important; Also Abid Ali and Shan Masood have done well recently in the past 2 series and that confidence will be required in such conditions and in such a difficult series; Our batting is looking confident, based on their wins in the past 2 series so we are hopeful that we can continue with this"
Playing against a tough England side on venues that aren't Pakistan's happy hunting grounds
"Look if you wish to win against a good team, then challenges will always be there; You have to beat the home team in all three departments of the game to win; Obviously are favourite hunting grounds are in London (Lord's & The Oval) but we must also see that conditions were not the same as before during the games in Manchester and Southampton; What we saw now at these 2 venues were dry conditions and where spinners got some help, so just like at The Oval we saw elements of reverse swing and turn at these venues; So conditions are encouraging for us; So we need to see how we exploit these conditions because when we played here in Manchester in 2016, there was nothing for spinners - even on the 4th or 5th day there was no help for spinners; But as we have seen in the concluded series now, conditions are totally different from last time"
Will top-order decide the outcome of the series?
"Overall bowling line-ups for both sides are very strong and in good form; England are playing with a strong bowling line-up and they have even sacrificed one batsman for that too and the idea is that throughout the match, they have the fresh bowlers who can together take 20 wickets; Their batting is struggling and I feel that the match will be decided by who bats better and as we have seen on these pitches that if a team crosses 300, especially in the first innings, then chances of winning are about 70%"
How much will performances in the Intra-Squad games matter for selection in final XI?
"Obviously performances in intra-squad games are important as is a player's current form; Obviously Sohail Khan is bowling well but most important thing is our opposition and the conditions in which we will play the match, these are important for our decision making when it comes to deciding the final team combination which will be most effective for us; The conditions during the intra-squad games were a little different and the conditions were bowling friendly; The conditions in Manchester are different and a little drier and the pitch doesn't have that much grass; We will decide the best combination based on all these factors"
Big opportunity for Naseem, Shaheen to perform and make names for themselves
"Yes this will be a huge opportunity as you only get experienced after going through such trials; England bowling has experience which our line-up does not have but the potential and quality that our bowlers have is no less than that of the opposition; I am confident that even our youngsters will play the same amount of cricket as their English counterparts and perform in the same way in the future; In terms of potential, Shaheen, Naseem and Abbas have proved themselves in whatever cricket they have played so far and they have another big chance to prove themselves in these conditions and stamp their authority to show everyone that they belong at this level of cricket"
Wasim Akram's help
"Wasim Akram always helps out but I am not sure in this bio-secure environment he can come in and help us; Players such as Shaheen and Usman Khan Shinwari are in touch with him via phone"
"As far as my role is concerned, best to concentrate on this series for now"
"Matches will be played on the ground so it doesn't matter what people say about whether we will win or not"
How important is Younis Khan's help for Misbah?
"Younis Khan's presence is important for me especially when you have such a big squad where there are 17-18 batsmen; Younis Khan has experience of playing so much cricket and he knows how to prepare players mentally and also to look after their practice needs for Test matches; He knows when to speak to the players about technical and tactical issues; He is the best man to have in your staff who is tireless and his work ethic is excellent; He has played so much international cricket and was mentally strong, and now he is transferring and sharing all that experience with the players"
How will result of England tour effect Misbah & Younis's standing
"Younis Khan is right in saying that we cannot expect too many changes in any batsman from just one series; All that can be done is fine tuning and slight improvements for any batsman in one series; Overall in terms of tactical aspects and game plans, there will be a difference seen and things should improve in that sense"
"If I were to operate on the basis of thinking that my position will improve or not by result of one series than that will show that I don't have a vision for the future; What we need to be doing is to move forward with a vision to be in the top 3 in all formats of the game"
Final 16 will be announced on Tuesday
"We will announce the final 16 for the 1st Test on Tuesday after looking at the condition of the pitch; The final practice game we played was better for our batsmen and played under Test match conditions; I feel that the pitch for Test match will be much better for batting; Since batsmen have had a difficult time in practice games, they may find the Test pitch easier to play in; Obviously quality of bowling they will face in Tests will be very good but I feel that our batsmen's preparations have been good, and I am hopeful we will play much better in the upcoming matches"
