Misbah blames corona-triggered lack of training

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Terming the defeat of Team Pakistan in series against New Zealand as disappointing, head coach of the national cricket team Misbah-ul-Haq said on Monday that the fitness and fielding sector was affected due to Corona pandemic.

“Losing the series to New Zealand was disappointing. The Pakistan team gave their 100-percent in terms of resources and time. And no matter how hard we try, cricket is a game of luck. There are a lot of things that made us lose the series,” Misbah said while addressing a news conference, here today.

Explaining the reasons as to why the Pakistan side lost the series against Kiwis, Misbah said the team could not do any practice and spent around 19 days in their rooms, which was the main cause for their ‘not so good performance.’ The players were affected by coronavirus and there was a worry about how to move forward in that situation, he added.

Misbah said the New Zealand team is the strongest team in the world and the performances of the teams in world cricket are going up and down. The Pakistan side is also trying to find a way out on how to improve the team performance, he added.

He said, “We did not give up, we have to accept that the New Zealand team was better than us, Babar Azam’s injury was the biggest loss. We need further improvement.”

The head coach said that the batting performance of the Pakistan team was better despite all odds.

On a query, he said, “I do not know what to ask in the cricket committee meeting, however, the report will be presented in the cricket committee meeting.

Fawad Alam, Faheem Ashraf and Muhammad Rizwan’s performances were good,” he said.

Moreover, there are rumours that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is considering to dispense with the services of Misbah-ul-Haq as head coach and offer the slot to former skipper Younis Khan for the upcoming tour to South Africa.