Misbah-ul-Haq lauds side after record breaking win
Oct 26, 2016 at 10:59 AM
Misbah-ul-Haq is just like red wine – Getting better with age. The senior Pakistan star has been such a gem for the side as his captaincy has brought about a sense of relief and calm to the ever dramatic Pakistani camp. His leadership qualities remain top notch, as series after series, Pakistan are churning out inspiring performances. After a closely fought series against England in alien conditions, where they drew 2-2, they have decimated West Indies in UAE.
On the fifth day of the second test, it was just a matter of time before the West Indians collapsed, to hand Pakistan the series win. As a courtesy of the win, Misbah now has 10 series victories to his name, and surpassed the tally of former Indian skippers Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni, who have won 9 series’ each.
Post the victory, Misbah lauded his side for a dominating performance. “Thanks to almighty Allah. It wasn’t easy,” Misbah said. “I mean, on wickets like that, getting 20 wickets is always a challenge, and I think the bowlers just lived up to the expectations.”They worked really hard, especially Yasir Shah and the fast bowlers also contributed well on this pitch, and I think that was a big achievement, getting 20 wickets on this pitch.”
The veteran batsman mentioned that taking 20 wickets on the flat tracks of UAE was a task too tedious. “In the UAE especially, you cannot really change much about your planning, because of the slow pitches, and it’s really tough to get wickets here, and you have to grind oppositions sometimes. That’s simply the format you have to follow. “But when you’re playing in conditions like we did in England and we’re going to in New Zealand and Australia, obviously we need to change that. There the conditions are different. We’re looking forward to the tours, and obviously, we have to play that kind of cricket there to win.”
Misbah went on to call leg-spinner Yasir Shah as a “world class” bowler. “Our spinners are our strength and with Yasir being a world-class bowler, we expect to have turning and spinning wickets but this pitch had nothing for the bowlers,” he added. “Today it was the fifth day and still was flat and didn’t do much but still our bowlers worked so hard to take 20 wickets and it’s a big achievement.”