Misbah calls for patience

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq on Friday hit back at criticism after his side’s 4-0 defeat in the one-day series against England, urging a change of mindset among detractors. “I have said that even after the Test series win that we have to keep patience,” said Misbah following his team’s eight-run win in the first of three Twenty20 internationals against England on Thursday.
Pakistan routed England in the three-Tests 3-0 but suffered a 4-0 reverse in the following one-day series, prompting former cricketing greats and media commentators to call for changes in the team and captaincy. “We should talk of the ground realities but we talk on other points,” said Misbah in response. “We should talk of the bad performance (and) the areas where we showed weaknesses.
“We must talk of ground realities and the media should be positive. We committed mistakes: they scored four hundreds, we managed only four fifties and their bowlers took wickets, ours didn’t,” said Misbah of the one-day series.
The Pakistan skipper said the country had under-performed in the past because of such a response to defeats, insisting that his side had not become bad players overnight just because of the loss of the one-day series.
“We have to change this thinking if we are to lift Pakistan cricket,” he said, calling for a more reasoned debate about strengths and weaknesses rather than a potentially counter-productive knee-jerk response to change personnel.
Misbah has not lost a Test series since taking over the Pakistan captaincy in October 2010 and the defeat against England was his first since taking charge as one-day captain in June last year.
Pakistan had won the preceding two one-day series before he took over. “Drastic changes will not help. These same players won us the last six series. Now if, on one defeat against a top team, we change players and captains then we could change six captains till the 2015 World Cup,” he said. “That can never bring improvement in Pakistan team.”
Misbah said he hoped Pakistan will carry the momentum in the next two Twenty20 matches, which take place in Dubai on Saturday and Abu Dhabi on Monday. “England is a good team and can come back strongly, so we have guard against complacency and do our best,” he added.