- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 218,136
Misbah speaking to the press today:
On playing Zimbabwe
“You can’t just think about yourself when playing cricket. If we do that I think it is an injustice to the sport and would hamper its development. Whichever teams are strong currently, just like New Zealand is at the top, whoever is not at the top was a starter and a weak team during the initial stage of their development. How will they improve unless they play and gain exposure?”
“I don’t think this should be the mindset that we don’t allow these teams to compete. The real reason for the absence of that quality is because they are not getting that kind of cricket"
“It is another thing that we should be playing against the top teams as much as we can. You always gain a lot by playing against sides that are better than you. You learn a great deal and the team improves a lot as well. I think it is the same. When we play top teams we gain a lot just like teams below us do when they play us"
“At the same time we also have to play with other teams so that they also gain experience and improve. I think in cricket we should keep moving forward this way. These teams should get many opportunities. It shouldn’t be that if these teams are not at that stage, they should not get any opportunities,” he concluded.
On Babar Azam
“When you become the captain of the side, as you gain more experience and go through different situations, your tactics continue to improve accordingly. When you go through these situations again and again, you get an idea of what you need to do in them. You keep learning about these strategies as you play more matches. I think the same applies to Babar"
“His overall cricketing sense is remarkable. He has proved himself in every format of the sport. This can only be done by a player or batsman who understands the tactics and strategies of the opposition teams. The same thing applies to captaincy. The only thing is that with time and experience, his tactics will keep on improving. I think the way he is improving and the experience he has, he is doing a tremendous job"
On Tabish Khan
“Against Zimbabwe, we gave Tabish Khan a chance without compromising on our strengths. Faheem Ashraf is a great performer and there is no danger to his place in the side. We continue to give opportunities to players in the white-ball format as well"
Batsmen's performance against Zimbabwe
“We had great results in both series. Winning in different and tough conditions was important for the team. The openers performed well during the Test series against Zimbabwe. Fawad and Azhar Ali also made centuries. We performed better in the field as well. Hasan Ali performed extraordinarily. We would like to continue this momentum in England”
Middle-order concerns
“We are just concerned about our middle-order in white-ball cricket. We have to do something in that regard,” he added.
On Squad selection/Results/England tour
"I don't care about them and their criticism"
"We can only work and try hard. The bottom line is that results are not in our hands. As the head coach, I have not thought about my future and will not start doing that now either."
"Due to the exceptional conditions because of Covid-19 we have been able to take extended squads and have a close look at the available talent."
"But on the coming tour to England we will only pick those players who have a chance of playing in the World T20 Cup this year"
We can only work hard. The results are not in our hands. As a coach, I have not thought about my future and will not start doing that now either. People who criticise me are boiling their own blood. I don’t care about people criticising me,"
“Sometimes players don’t fit into team combinations. When Fawad Alam was performing the middle-order in the national side was already set. In my opinion, age should not be a factor. If a performer is fit enough they should get an opportunity"
“Life in a bio-bubble is not normal. Now, you can’t even meet your families during camps. International cricket adds a lot of pressure as well. It is hard but the passion of the game keeps everyone going. Spending time together has brought the entire team closer"
“We have bigger squads because of the prevailing circumstances. We are taking junior players along keeping in mind what we might need in the future. Only the players who are likely to represent Pakistan in the World Cup will play against England. The team has a lot of young players already. There is this slogan of giving young players a chance. Even Rizwan is comparatively young. We cannot just make five changes in a flash. Even if South Africa didn’t have some of their players, we were still playing with the upcoming world cup in mind"
“No, more experiments with the team. It’s time to get serious and going along with the cricketers for tough series who have realistic chances of playing for the country”
“England series are tough and also the other series coming up including T20World Cup"
“The focus will be on finding the best playing XI in each match"
On playing Zimbabwe
“You can’t just think about yourself when playing cricket. If we do that I think it is an injustice to the sport and would hamper its development. Whichever teams are strong currently, just like New Zealand is at the top, whoever is not at the top was a starter and a weak team during the initial stage of their development. How will they improve unless they play and gain exposure?”
“I don’t think this should be the mindset that we don’t allow these teams to compete. The real reason for the absence of that quality is because they are not getting that kind of cricket"
“It is another thing that we should be playing against the top teams as much as we can. You always gain a lot by playing against sides that are better than you. You learn a great deal and the team improves a lot as well. I think it is the same. When we play top teams we gain a lot just like teams below us do when they play us"
“At the same time we also have to play with other teams so that they also gain experience and improve. I think in cricket we should keep moving forward this way. These teams should get many opportunities. It shouldn’t be that if these teams are not at that stage, they should not get any opportunities,” he concluded.
On Babar Azam
“When you become the captain of the side, as you gain more experience and go through different situations, your tactics continue to improve accordingly. When you go through these situations again and again, you get an idea of what you need to do in them. You keep learning about these strategies as you play more matches. I think the same applies to Babar"
“His overall cricketing sense is remarkable. He has proved himself in every format of the sport. This can only be done by a player or batsman who understands the tactics and strategies of the opposition teams. The same thing applies to captaincy. The only thing is that with time and experience, his tactics will keep on improving. I think the way he is improving and the experience he has, he is doing a tremendous job"
On Tabish Khan
“Against Zimbabwe, we gave Tabish Khan a chance without compromising on our strengths. Faheem Ashraf is a great performer and there is no danger to his place in the side. We continue to give opportunities to players in the white-ball format as well"
Batsmen's performance against Zimbabwe
“We had great results in both series. Winning in different and tough conditions was important for the team. The openers performed well during the Test series against Zimbabwe. Fawad and Azhar Ali also made centuries. We performed better in the field as well. Hasan Ali performed extraordinarily. We would like to continue this momentum in England”
Middle-order concerns
“We are just concerned about our middle-order in white-ball cricket. We have to do something in that regard,” he added.
On Squad selection/Results/England tour
"I don't care about them and their criticism"
"We can only work and try hard. The bottom line is that results are not in our hands. As the head coach, I have not thought about my future and will not start doing that now either."
"Due to the exceptional conditions because of Covid-19 we have been able to take extended squads and have a close look at the available talent."
"But on the coming tour to England we will only pick those players who have a chance of playing in the World T20 Cup this year"
We can only work hard. The results are not in our hands. As a coach, I have not thought about my future and will not start doing that now either. People who criticise me are boiling their own blood. I don’t care about people criticising me,"
“Sometimes players don’t fit into team combinations. When Fawad Alam was performing the middle-order in the national side was already set. In my opinion, age should not be a factor. If a performer is fit enough they should get an opportunity"
“Life in a bio-bubble is not normal. Now, you can’t even meet your families during camps. International cricket adds a lot of pressure as well. It is hard but the passion of the game keeps everyone going. Spending time together has brought the entire team closer"
“We have bigger squads because of the prevailing circumstances. We are taking junior players along keeping in mind what we might need in the future. Only the players who are likely to represent Pakistan in the World Cup will play against England. The team has a lot of young players already. There is this slogan of giving young players a chance. Even Rizwan is comparatively young. We cannot just make five changes in a flash. Even if South Africa didn’t have some of their players, we were still playing with the upcoming world cup in mind"
“No, more experiments with the team. It’s time to get serious and going along with the cricketers for tough series who have realistic chances of playing for the country”
“England series are tough and also the other series coming up including T20World Cup"
“The focus will be on finding the best playing XI in each match"
Last edited:
