"The advice for Sarfaraz is to be a little more calmer and to focus on his batting" : Misbah-ul-Haq

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"The advice for Sarfaraz is to be a little more calmer and to focus on his batting" : Misbah-ul-Haq

Misbah-ul-Haq speaking in December on TV:

"Imran Khan and Javed Miandad are players who introduced Pakistan's name to the world and we are recognized [as a cricketing nation] due to them"

"Pakistan became a force [to be reckoned with] in international cricket when Imran Khan became captain, and Javed Miandad also had a main role in that"

"When one's name is taken alongside such players or when you better their records then its a matter of great satisfaction for you"

"In 2010 we embarked on a mission to see why we were so lowly ranked in Tests"

"We focussed on that goal and we got the rewards for that after 6 years; to become the number one side in Tests was a major achievement"

"When I came into the team, there were 2 batsmen - Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan - without whose examples we would have not gotten anywhere"

"Everyone has their own style of thinking and you cannot blame anyone for having their opinions as its a matter of person like or dislike"

"There was a lot of disappointment for me and obviously more so, for the players themselves and their future for Pakistan"

"The biggest disappointment was that it took 6 years to wipe this off [corruption] and to build [a good] image of Pakistan Cricket and the same thing happened again"

"You can have the strongest anti-corruption unit but If a person is criminally minded than how can you stop him? He will look for any opportunity to do something illegal"

"You only become a good player of spin when you have faced such bowling before"

"If you look at the players from before 2000, they used to play on turning pitches in club cricket and then in First-Class you would face quality spinners as well"

"You would play 60 overs a day against good spinners and you knew that your defence had to be good and where you had to attack and score runs against spinners - in a sense you had a PhD in such matters!"

"In recent times, we have seen pitches being prepared where teams are being bowled out in 50 overs so the spinner doesnt get a chance to bowl and as a batsman, if you havent seen such bowling, then how will you work on your defence against such bowling?"

"The most important thing for a captain in the team is to focus on your own performance"

"When you are performing well, you become more confident and your team also respects you"

"The advice for Sarfaraz is to be a little more calmer and to focus on his own batting"

"Sarfaraz will need to refine his style of play and bring in more consistency in his performances, otherwise the pressure on him will keep on increasing"

"At this age when you win the Champions Trophy, you feel that everything else is easy and there is no problem"

"In cricket to be confident but you should not be overconfident as a player, as then you become a little relaxed, lazy and do not do the hard work needed"

 

[HappyWarsFan]

Sensible words spoken by a legend. And my favourite player. Was an amazing captain in Tests for Pakistan.

I agree, but unfortunately it's been 2 years of failures from Sarfraz, he should just resign Test captaincy after this series is over.

 

[Mamoon]

I am not sold on the notion that we have regressed against spin because of our domestic pitches. If that was the case, we would have learned to prosper against lateral movement because that is all that we get in domestic cricket these days.

The short duration of F/C matches hasn't impacted our ability against any particular style of bowling; it has simply ensured that our batsmen have zero temperament and confidence to bat for long periods of time. They are failing against all types of bowling under the slightest hint of pressure, and even when their is no pressure, the young batsmen hardly go onto score big hundreds and double-hundreds.

Karun Nair scored a 300 against England in only his second Test, but you will never see a young Pakistani batsman do that, that too in only his second match.

 

[Varun]

Misbah speaking the facts calmly as always.

Sarfraz - listen up!

 

[HappyWarsFan]

I am not sold on the notion that we have regressed against spin because of our domestic pitches. If that was the case, we would have learned to prosper against lateral movement because that is all that we get in domestic cricket these days.

The short duration of F/C matches hasn't impacted our ability against any particular style of bowling; it has simply ensured that our batsmen have zero temperament and confidence to bat for long periods of time. They are failing against all types of bowling under the slightest hint of pressure, and even when their is no pressure, the young batsmen hardly go onto score big hundreds and double-hundreds.

Karun Nair scored a 300 against England in only his second Test, but you will never see a young Pakistani batsman do that, that too in only his second match.

This is kinda true, the pitches are difficult but it does mean our batsmen will get out fast and not have any patience. I think we should have a mix. Some pitches in domestic should be flat (to build patience) and some should be bowling friendly (as a challenge.) Variety is good.

 

[Ilan Bluestone]

Bang on.

I may not necessarily have liked Misbah the player due to his style of play in ODI's, but he was an excellent test player and a good captain.

For me, play is the most important aspect of the game. Captaincy is given way too much credence. Of course it has a key impact on the match in terms of strategy, but having a strategist should be secondary to cricketing ability and performance.

Sarfraz came into the team a few years ago due to his batting performance. I thought it was actually great and fully supported him. He was scoring runs whether it be ODI's or tests, he opened the batting in ODI's and did fairly well, the reason for his inclusion was based on performance with the bat. He isn't the best keeper, this we know, but with run making ability he would be fine, without that then we are left with someone who is solely included for their mind, and results wise, it leaves a lot to be desired.

A CT win has given SA a free pass for seemingly whenever he would like his career to end. An odd 50 here or there should not overshadow consistent failures with the bat.

The numbers never lie:

In tests he has a high 20s average in the last 4 years, and I did not even know this until I checked, but he does not have a century in 5 years. Last one occurring in 2014.

In ODI's he either does not bat so as to not place any blame, and those matches we win, the success to the preforming batsmen, or comes in so low that he says it was the higher up batsmen to set a score. Last year in 14 innings he had a 24 average with 2 fifties, the year before a 38 average in 7 innings with 1 fifty. 21 innings, 3 fifties, a high 20s average. He bats so low and yet somehow his SR is still hovering around 80. You would think coming as a pinch hitter that he would come and thrash the ball away at least, but no, often he opts for part timers to come and and make quick runs. Why? One can only guess, but it would seem so as to deflect blame in the case of any failures.

In the beginning Sarfraz was humble and seemed he had a good head on his shoulders, but time has passed and he seems to comment only on others failures and deflecting blame left and right.

Misbah didn't really say anything offensive, but something that is honest and true; as a captain, you are to lead by example, and when your example is not scoring runs with the bat, hiding yourself down the order and putting the onus on relatively young and inexperienced players to perform, or verbally blaming other batsmen or bowlers, what will you expect from the teams performance?

 

[BaankeJi]

Sarfaraz needs to be relieved of captaincy. I am sure it will have a positive impact on his batting.

 

[TeymurBlake]

He's raised some impressive points, but like the title says he must be calmer and must focus on his batting.

 

[PakPremi]

Agree with Misbah but he cannot change as I think it's in his nature he must be a little hyper.