Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey
The Pakistan cricket team became the second country after West Indies to tour England amid the pandemic. After staying in the country for two months and being a part of the bio-secure bubble created by ECB, the team has returned home. While talking to media over a video conference, Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq expressed his views on losses in form for several players who had helped Pakistan reach the world number 1 rank in T20Is.
The speculation started coming in as Pakistan slipped from number 1 rank to number four after Misbah joined the camp as head coach last September. In one year they have not just lost the top spot, but have also not seen any silver lining in their Test cricket as they remain rooted to number seven in the ICC rankings. However, the management promoted Misbah as chief selector, giving him two major roles.
“Pakistan was No.1 but if you recall the time I took over they were already on a losing streak. They lost in South Africa and one T20I against England. So they had already started to go down a bit and we all have an idea why was it. That was because some of our players were out of form collectively – Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali – those who were main contributors. So there was a sudden dip, but we are trying to take them to the same place. With the recent series [in England], it’s evident that the team is in the making, and going forward you will see better performances”, said the head coach.
In their last tour, Pakistan managed to score only one victory in the T20 matches. Irrespective of having the possibility to score high the team couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities on the field, which lead to losing the Test series with 1-0 and settling for a draw in the T20 series (1-1). “The sort of cricket we are playing right now is exactly what we are looking at, especially in T20 cricket there were questions about not having enough firepower and not matching the level of cricket being played in the world. But scoring 190 plus twice against England in English conditions is a sign that we are heading in the right direction”, he said.
