Misbah Delivers Advice To Pakistan Cricket Team After Sri Lanka Loss
Oct 4, 2017 at 8:59 PM
Former Pakistan cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq has insisted that the side’s embarrassing loss to Sri Lanka in the first test is due to the inexperience in their batting lineup.
Pakistan are playing their first test series since the retirement of Misbah and Younis Khan; both played their last against West Indies in May. The 43-year old has revealed that the players had fallen into a shell playing against Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath.
“It was a small target but the way the batsmen batted showed their inexperience. They did not attack Herath and when you don’t do that, he bowls at his best; it’s then tough to play him.”
The 43-year old also suggested that Pakistan should ideally go with two spinners when they play in UAE but has not hit out at their policy to go with three seamers considering the conditions.
Recalling their test match against South Africa, Misbah said:
“There was grass and the pitch looked good. You can’t assume you will get to make first use of it because it depends on the toss. We played three seamers here in the Test against South Africa and won despite losing the toss.”
“Maybe they took the grass and the moisture into account but ideally, whatever be the conditions, considering the heat and the fact that the pitch gets dry quickly, one should play with two spinners.”
There was lot of shuffling in the Pakistan batting order with both Misbah and Younis retiring. But Misbah reckons that Asad Shafiq should play higher up the order as should skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed.
“Look, your experienced batsman bats up the order,” said Misbah. “Asad was playing too low, he had to come up. I think No. 6 was low for him. Sarfraz is also batting low at No. 7, given that he has an average of 40 and he bats well against spinners.
“Asad is okay at No. 4 and the change was good. The openers needed to be experienced because after me and Younis, there was a gap, there were worrying signs,” he added.