Ever since Pakistan went down 3-0 against Australia in the recently concluded Test series, captain Misbah-ul-Haq has been facing the heat and come under severe criticism by both national selectors and foreign experts.
With Australian legend Ian Chappell calling for his head, there seems to be nothing left to cheer about for the Pakistan batting great.
Though, much to everyone’s surprise, Pakistan’s head coach Mickey Arthur has backed Misbah to continue playing for Pakistan amidst his retirement speculations, saying the 42-year-old has still left in him to perform and that he himself should make a call on his career than anyone else.
“I am hoping that Misbah tours and plays for Pakistan for a while yet but that is a choice that only Misbah can make. He needs time to assess for himself and I am sure when the time comes he will make the correct decision for himself.”
Speaking to the Dawn, Arthur said Misbah has done enough in the past to take a call on his career himself and should rather be left aside while discussing the same matter. Adding to this, he mentioned whenever Misbah retires, he will walk down as one of Pakistan’s greatest captain ever.
“Misbah’s career is obviously a very good one and when he does decide to retire he will go down as one of Pakistan’s finest captains and batsmen.”
Arthur, also said perhaps the time has come to make few spine-tingling choices if the country wants to see laurels coming home across formats.
“I think we’ve got to be realistic in making the (tough) decisions. We will always assess what are the right decisions for this team going forward and I certainly will not shy away from making tough calls, if in my opinion, they are in the best interest of Pakistan cricket.”
After losing all of their five-Test matches in New Zealand and Australia combinedly, Arthur shared his disappointment saying no coach or captain wants such a result but backed his side immediately, mentioning that nothing was left while preparing and that few individual performances on the tour were worth acknowledging.
“It has been very depressing for all of us losing these Test matches but I can tell you for certain that the work rate of the players and staff has been outstanding and no stone has been left unturned in terms of preparation.”
Pakistan will now face Australia in first of the five One-Dayers at Gabba, Brisbane on January 13th.