Criticism over team’s show not without reasons: Misbah

ISLAMABAD: Head coach Misbahul Haq, who will be facing tough questions regarding team’s performance upon his return from New Zealand, Thursday admitted that Pakistan team failed to deliver in all departments of the game during Test series against New Zealand.

In a PCB’s podcast shared from Christchurch, Misbah said that the criticism over team’s performance was not without reasons.

“The people who are criticising team’s performance after 2-0 series loss are right. We have not been able to put up a performance worthy of our potential. In fact, we have failed to deliver in all departments of the game, especially during the second Test. Poor performance always draws criticism and those blaming us for the poor show have reasons to do so,” Misbah said.

The head coach admitted that he had been unable to comprehend what had gone wrong with the team that resulted in consistent failure.

“We are looking into the reasons as to what had gone wrong with us in New Zealand. We have not been able to finish matches or getting closer to even winning it. We should have won in England and here in the first Test we came closer to pulling a draw from nowhere. Our players have shown their class in patches but there was no consistent performance.”

He added that the team had shown patches of brilliance and that was why people expected the team will put up a good show in the second Test.

“We need to improve our performance if we want to come out of this scenario. Every team focuses on victory but when it fails to come even closer to it then criticism becomes a natural phenomenon.”

Misbah termed poor fielding and dropped chances the main reasons behind the series loss.

“It is an old problem as our fielders drop crucial catches. We have a history of dropped chances. This very issue has let us down and made things difficult for the team’s chances. Our fielders made a mess of the chances coming their way. Had we taken those important catches, things would have been entirely different now.”

Misbah also stressed the need to build team’s confidence ahead of the home series against South Africa.

“I think there is a need to boost cricketers’ morale ahead of the all-important series against South Africa. They would be playing at home so there are good chances that they would be making the best use of their home conditions. We need to show an outstanding performance against South Africa.”

Misbah added that he would make all-out efforts to bring the best out of players.

“Obviously our cricketers are used to perform in home conditions so hopefully they will work hard to win the series.”