Team on right track: Misbah-ul-Haq satisfied with process
Sep 07, 2020
Lahore [Pakistan], September 7 : After losing the Test series 1-0 and levelling the T20I series 1-1 against England, Pakistan head coach Mishbah-ul-Haq on Monday said the team is on the 'right track' and he is satisfied with the process despite undesired results.
"There is always room for improvement after every series. Overall, the desired results were not achieved but the process we are on thinking about the future perspective of the team is right. I'm satisfied with the process and we are on the right track. We posted 190 plus target two times in English conditions," Misbah said in a press conference held at Gaddafi Stadium.
Pakistan faced criticism on not playing young talented batsman Haider Ali in the first two T20Is but the head coach defended the decision and said he wanted to play with the 'main-performance side'.
"Haider plays in top-three and Hafeez had performed well in recent times so that is the reason we started with our main-performance side. We still got enough time to mould these youngsters with a combination of seniors. We will develop this team as a combination of the youngster and experienced guys," Misbah said.
Misbah, who took charge of his post in September last year, said the side was dipping in the shortest format of the game before his appointment as head coach.
"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," he said.
"Some of our players were out of form. Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, and then Hasan Ali, the main contributors to our rise up the ranking, when they went into a slump the team also felt that dip. We're trying to take these and new boys back towards that level," he added.
Misbah said the bowlers are 'inexperienced' and they will improve with time as they play more games.
"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 made up panic. 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.
"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 added.