Pakistan captain Misbahul Haq wants to sweep the series against spirited Zimbabwe team and then dedicate the win to the outgoing coach Waqar Younis. Talking to journalists here at the end of the national team’s camp training, Misbah paid rich tribute to Waqar and believed that a big void would be created after he left the job.
“That does not mean that the team or the team management would become complacent; instead we would like to win to honour our coach. He also realised the good showing of Zimbabwe. “They are performing well and their combination has developed in a proper way and we have been training keeping in view their performance. All the camp trainees did their best in all the sessions of training and their hard work would surely pay dividend.”
On the return of Shoaib Malik in the team, the captain said that he was one of the best performers of domestic cricket and he would try to get full advantage from his experience. “I hope he will do his best for the team in Zimbabwe and maintain the same level of performance has showed to stage a comeback in the team,” he said. “In fact we would try to utilise the skills of all the players selected for the series and the playing eleven would be decided on the tour,” he stressed.
Acknowledging the contribution of Waqar, Misbah said he would be missed after he left. “He has great contribution for the development of the team and particularly as captain has supported me a lot. The team will play to their full potential and win for the country and the coach alike. Although he is going but we all are not a single bit of complacent in out plans and have laid out a strategy to win. It is up to the board to decide the new coach and my duty as captain is to focus on the series. We all know our jobs in hand,” he added.
Misbah said they should not be taking Zimbabwe lightly. “It would be wrong to take any team lightly while the others always come with full force and could upset you,” he said and also realised the importance of fielding, saying that a lot of work has been done in this department of the game and surely their will be improvement.
