"The security issue is just an excuse for Bangladesh to not come to Pakistan" : Misbah-ul-Haq

[MenInG]

Pakistan Head Coach and Chief Selector speaking to the media:

"In the past we have had problems when we have come under pressure in cases where we had conceded a first innings lead but then to perform like this means that confidence levels for the team have increased, and for me obviously the way we have made a comeback in this match is a source of relief"

"Regardless of what our performance is like, whether a victory or domination, there is always room for improvement"

"In the spin bowling area, we are hoping that Yasir Shah will comeback into form"

"These young bowlers did not have so much first class experience, but we banked on Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi at the international level which was a tough ask for them, and they responded well"

"Especially Naseem Shah's bowling today, clearly shows to everyone that he is a star in the making"

"Shaheen Shah Afridi has played a bit and he is maturing well but its great to see Naseem Shah bowl so well at such an early part of his career and I am sure he will improve more as he plays in the future; He is a good long term investment for us"

"Obviously you do not discard your good bowler like that; He has played in South Africa and Australia where as is, spinners have a lot of difficulty, and because of that his confidence level is low, but whenever he has played in Asian conditions his performance has been better and more he plays in local conditions then he can be useful in our next series if its here; Its usually a question of one good performance which can take you towards improvement"

"In the long run we have to develop other spinners and we are thinking about that too"

"That doesnt mean that we dont have faith in Yasir's abilities as we still think he is our match-winner now and will continue to be that in the future too - its just a matter of one good performance"

Question : Our guests have been eating biryani etc but are we allowing that for our players as this was not allowed before

"Biryani is not allowed in our dressing room but if someone likes it that much, they will eat it when they go home"

"As regards to Fawad, the idea is to make sure we dont play him for just the sake of it, hopefully he will get a chance [later]"

"There is huge advantage of playing on your home ground as you can see from our current performances; Abid Ali got a hundred on his debut and then scored another hundred here, then Babar Azam hit 2 hundreds in two Tests, Azhar Ali was under pressure and he scored a hundred too; Then we had Shan Masood score a hundred; If you look at the last 2 series, our batsmen were under considerable disadvantage and they were struggling; Also the support we have here is not there in places like Australia; So the crowd roaring as Naseem Shah runs in something that fast-bowlers like and their energy levels get boosted, and even your pace increases by 5-6 kmh in such situations"

"It will be a huge disappointment for us if Bangladesh don't come to Pakistan; There is no excuse to not come to Pakistan and the security issue seems to be just an excuse in my view"

"You are having international tours happening in Pakistan, other teams are coming; You [Bangladesh] are coming for T20Is but refusing to come for Tests seems to be just an excuse as I cannot see any other reason for this"

"And to me this is extremely unfair to Pakistan as its already a case that we play less Test cricket and if this series doesnt happen, and we play Tests in England after such a long period then we cannot blame our players [for bad performances]"

"Azhar Ali has just come into form after such a long time, and now he has to wait another 4 months or so then any player feels that its like he is making a debut again"

"Even Shan Masood who has scored a hundred needs to play Test cricket continuously after this"

"The best thing was that Azhar came in at a time when there was a lot of pressure and he did not play a selfish innings"

"Azhar Ali played in a way that was needed by the team and scored runs as well - so he scored a hundred and also helped the team"

"You need mental strength and this is why he has scored valuable runs around the world"

"In batting the more maturity you have, the more you are likely to handle the pressure; In bowling you can sometimes take a chance with an inexperienced bowling attack when you see some extraordinary talent but overall FC experience counts a lot for international cricket"

[Boi]

With the last comment say goodbye to any chances of the young batsmen like Saud, Zeeshan, Abdullah getting a go with Misbah in charge. Oldies for the win

[Titan24]

With the last comment say goodbye to any chances of the young batsmen like Saud, Zeeshan, Abdullah getting a go with Misbah in charge. Oldies for the win

Even Mickey wasnt trying the young batsmen in tests as it requires more FC experience than trying the batsmen in LOIs.

[angrypathan]

Whilst I don't disagree with what he's said about Bangladesh, I don't think Misbah should be commenting on it publicly, let the board executives sort it out

[adil_909]

ICC needs to step in and force countries to either visit pakistan or forfeit the series and give us the points. No more neutral country nonsense

[Hawkeye]

Misbah not mincing words.

Though it should be resolved diplomatically.

[Mesozoic]

ICC needs to step in and force countries to either visit pakistan or forfeit the series and give us the points. No more neutral country nonsense

ICC are in no position to force teams after what happened in 2009.

[desirous of desire]

Poor from Misbah to comment on this issue.Let the people on the negotiating table handle this.

[Shazzam]

Pakistan Head Coach and Chief Selector speaking to the media:


"As regards to Fawad, the idea is to make sure we dont play him for just the sake of it, hopefully he will get a chance [later]"

So in other words you won’t play him if the team is winning. Fawad has a place in this side and you know it. This is more about your ego than about Pakistan. You don’t want to give media the impression that you are doing it due to being under pressure.

"And to me this is extremely unfair to Pakistan as its already a case that we play less Test cricket and if this series doesnt happen, and we play Tests in England after such a long period then we cannot blame our players [for bad performances]"

This is easily the worst comment I have herd from any of our previous head coaches. Who comes there and says that we cannot blame the players for a certain period of time of not playing a certain format? This guy reeks of unprofessionalism. I wish he got a media manager. Your job is to perform at any given situation. You cannot come on media to make excuses.

[Zaz]

Mmhm so fawad isnt going to be given a chance anytime soon no matter how badly the batting order performs

Also cringeworthy comments about experience being necessary in batting If it was upto him someone like babar would be nowwhere near the team until he was 30

Some truly awful comments once again from misbah

[Titan24]

ICC are in no position to force teams after what happened in 2009.

They cant force Pakistan to incur extra costs in UAE too so they will have to find the solution. Teams have to provide valid reasons for not touring, Pak is as safe as any other place rather more than few places holding cricket matches in recent times.

[jnaveen1980]

Taunting is not exactly right way. This is not street fight. Leave that too Basit Alis lol.

[cricketjoshila]

Unnecessary comments from Misbah. Let the people who are incharge handle this.

He is incharge of onfield issues and even pakistanis will agree that he isnt doing great there.

[Abdullah]

ICC needs to step in and force countries to either visit pakistan or forfeit the series and give us the points. No more neutral country nonsense

ICC are in no position to force teams after what happened in 2009.

They cant force Pakistan to incur extra costs in UAE too so they will have to find the solution. Teams have to provide valid reasons for not touring, Pak is as safe as any other place rather more than few places holding cricket matches in recent times.

So What happens if both sides dig in?
Do we get the championship points!?

[Boi]

Even Mickey wasnt trying the young batsmen in tests as it requires more FC experience than trying the batsmen in LOIs.

Well he did persist with Babar and gave Imam chances. The likes of Saad Ali and Usman were included in squads too.

Shafiq and Azhar are criminals, blocking spots in the middle order now where we could develop new batsmen.

[moghul]

I agree with MIsbah on his comments regarding BD. It took Pakistan 10 years to be ready for International cricket and now for test matches. BD would not be the first team to play test here now, that credit goes to SL, thankfully SL is and independent board , not under any other country's influence .

Considering all this, its quite bad and ridiculous by BCB, " happy to play T20 but not test".

[aloo paratha]

ICC are in no position to force teams after what happened in 2009.

So just because a bad event happened 10 years ago, teams are justified not to visit even though all data suggests Pakistan is safer now than when teams were still touring?

If ICC is a proper sports governing body, they'd show some guts and fix this, but they are a joke of a governing body, they've done nothing right.

[Artaxerxes]

I hate it when PCB starts begging other teams to tour Pakistan.If Bangladesh doesn't want to tour Pakistan then Pakistan should do the same and not go to Bangladesh.

[Titan24]

Well he did persist with Babar and gave Imam chances. The likes of Saad Ali and Usman were included in squads too.

Shafiq and Azhar are criminals, blocking spots in the middle order now where we could develop new batsmen.

Babar was a no brainier for any coach and was already part of the overall setup under Waqar. Yes credit to Mickey that he didnt drop him from tests during his learning phase. Imam is still part of the squad. Usman was only given a game or two while Saad Ali was tried in ODIs. Mickey persisted with Asad and Azhar throughout and only rotation he ever did was trying Azhar as an opener and squeezing a player in.

I highly doubt he would have included Zeeshan, Abdullah Shafiq etc.

There arent exactly many young middle order batsmen knocking on the door of test team. Zeeshan is an opener while Abdullah Shafiq is yet to play a complete season. Saad Ali had a mediocre season, Usman Salahudin's style of play is bit like Shan Masood and Azhar Ali and takes his time but can be brought back in again however he will make the middle order of all right handed batsmen along with monotony and he contributes not much with the ball which Haris and Fawad can do to an extent as 5th option.

[Titan24]

So What happens if both sides dig in?
Do we get the championship points!?

ICC will have to clarify in this regard. Though in my opinion Pak should get the points unless the team not touring has any substantial and factual reasoning which they can prove but I am not sure realistically what will happen. Definitely an issue to ponder for ICC as they want every team to be playing for same amount of points by the end of 3 years cycle of test championship so points cant go up in thin air.

[Slim]

Taunting is not exactly right way. This is not street fight. Leave that too Basit Alis lol.

Unnecessary comments from Misbah. Let the people who are incharge handle this.

He is incharge of onfield issues and even pakistanis will agree that he isnt doing great there.

Even though what he is saying is right but you both are right about this as well.

[Boi]

Babar was a no brainier for any coach and was already part of the overall setup under Waqar. Yes credit to Mickey that he didnt drop him from tests during his learning phase. Imam is still part of the squad. Usman was only given a game or two while Saad Ali was tried in ODIs. Mickey persisted with Asad and Azhar throughout and only rotation he ever did was trying Azhar as an opener and squeezing a player in.

I highly doubt he would have included Zeeshan, Abdullah Shafiq etc.

There arent exactly many young middle order batsmen knocking on the door of test team. Zeeshan is an opener while Abdullah Shafiq is yet to play a complete season. Saad Ali had a mediocre season, Usman Salahudin's style of play is bit like Shan Masood and Azhar Ali and takes his time but can be brought back in again however he will make the middle order of all right handed batsmen along with monotony and he contributes not much with the ball which Haris and Fawad can do to an extent as 5th option.

Fair points. Biggest disappointment from the Mickey era was that he never identified and selected Saud and Zafar. Saud really should’ve debuted for Pakistan by now.

[khan_aa]

I hate it when PCB starts begging other teams to tour Pakistan.If Bangladesh doesn't want to tour Pakistan then Pakistan should do the same and not go to Bangladesh.

cant because of points. its not that simple

[Titan24]

Fair points. Biggest disappointment from the Mickey era was that he never identified and selected Saud and Zafar. Saud really should’ve debuted for Pakistan by now.

True and Saud was in pretty good form a season or two ago. He provides a decent bowling option as well in tests. He isnt currently in best of the forms but I still wont mind if he comes under the radar soon as even the Pakistan cricket's youtube channel he is defined as a batting prodigy so one would expect a prodigy who is now matured to be part of Pak setup.

Zafara definitely deserved a go when Bilal Asif was selected against Aus and NZ UAE tests and should have been part of LOI sides as well as he is not only a pretty good spinner but a handy lower order batsman as well along with being a good fielder.

[whyamir]

Needs to be sacked immediately.

Pathetic coach with an even worse mentality when it comes to running a competent cricket team.

I really hope we get rid of him and Waqar asap.

[Pete Rose]

No need to say anything about Bangladesh. Leave that to the board

[MenInG]

Needs to be sacked immediately.

Pathetic coach with an even worse mentality when it comes to running a competent cricket team.

I really hope we get rid of him and Waqar asap.

Wow where did this come from? On a day when we are closer to our first Test win for a while.

[MenInG]

Unnecessary comments from Misbah. Let the people who are incharge handle this.

He is incharge of onfield issues and even pakistanis will agree that he isnt doing great there.

To be honest, I agree.

This could mess up any backroom negotiations also. What if Bangladesh players make a statement? could start a slanging match which no one can control.

[SensiblePakFan]

To be honest, I agree.

This could mess up any backroom negotiations also. What if Bangladesh players make a statement? could start a slanging match which no one can control.

Yup, what he said is an open secret but it isnt meant to be said by people in charge like him, should let the diplomats deal with it backroom.

[Darkrai]

He should focus on doing his Job. His statements could create issues between the two cricket boards.

Let Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan handle this.

[adil_909]

ICC are in no position to force teams after what happened in 2009.

How long are you going to continue using this excuse? There are routine dangers of traveling anywhere. Pakistan is no more unsafe than any other country. In fact it's probably safer than many other countries because these players get VIP-type security. So either teams should come to Pakistan or forfeit the series and give us the points.

[Mamoon]

How long are you going to continue using this excuse? There are routine dangers of traveling anywhere. Pakistan is no more unsafe than any other country. In fact it's probably safer than many other countries because these players get VIP-type security. So either teams should come to Pakistan or forfeit the series and give us the points.

Some mistakes are too big to be forgiven. Yes anything can happen anywhere but so far Pakistan is the only place where a cricket team was directly attacked.

Besides, it is not like it happened 50 years ago. 2009 was not that long ago.

In the last 10 years, Pakistan has hosted more international matches than it deserved to. We have to give credit to other cricket boards because ultimately they have nothing to lose by refusing to tour Pakistan.

PCB has no leverage here so it cannot play hard ball with its counterparts. Just because Sri Lanka agreed to play Tests doesn’t mean that all other boards will now lineup to tour Pakistan for Tests.

We have to be patient and humble. Ultimately we are the only losers here.

[ZamanFan]

Ehsan Mani has already conveyed that Pakistan won't play Bangladesh on neutral venue. This should be the end of it. Why are more people jumping in and stretching this issue like a chewing gum? It won't do anything apart from give more headlines for indian websites like cricbuzz that are on the lookout for any negative news from Pakistan.

Pakistan never hosted Bangladesh on neutral venue, when no one was coming here. How can Pakistan accept this flimsy childish rant of Bangladeshis [to treat them like a top 5 ranked team], when situation has changed completely and security excuse can't be made anymore. If they have some other political issue which looks like it than there is no need to have discussions further.

BCB is repeating their pathetic actions of 2011 and Pakistan Board has again gone to them. There should be a long-term plan of action against Bangladesh.

[the Great Khan]

ICC are in no position to force teams after what happened in 2009.

how old were you in 2009? thats how long ago that was..things have moved on and the ICC has approved our security plan. There are no excuses now.

[Waleed93]

With this statement, he has probably killed even the smallest ray of hope we had for a Bangladesh visit.

[PakPremi]

Bangladesh needs to remember many teams had refused to tour them as well in not too distant past, so if they do the same ro Pak especially now with no security issues, Pak could do so as well.

[Deewana Mastana]

Misbah being Misbah and nothing different.

[adil_909]

Some mistakes are too big to be forgiven. Yes anything can happen anywhere but so far Pakistan is the only place where a cricket team was directly attacked.

Besides, it is not like it happened 50 years ago. 2009 was not that long ago.

In the last 10 years, Pakistan has hosted more international matches than it deserved to. We have to give credit to other cricket boards because ultimately they have nothing to lose by refusing to tour Pakistan.

PCB has no leverage here so it cannot play hard ball with its counterparts. Just because Sri Lanka agreed to play Tests doesn’t mean that all other boards will now lineup to tour Pakistan for Tests.

We have to be patient and humble. Ultimately we are the only losers here.

2009 was not that long ago? it was a decade ago. children that were born in 2009 are now in 5th grade in school. more importantly, the situation on the ground from 2007-2014 was TOTALLY different than what it is now.

[King-Misbah]

2009 was not that long ago? it was a decade ago. children that were born in 2009 are now in 5th grade in school. more importantly, the situation on the ground from 2007-2014 was TOTALLY different than what it is now.

Ignore him, the political parties that he supports were governing Pakistan at the time. I don't hear a word of him against them.

[Snowflake]

While that is quite possible true, it should not have come from the coach of Pakistan cricket team. Misbah is not trained for this job and it shows when he speaks to the press. He's been confrontational with the press and doesn't know how to tactfully answer tricky questions.

[saeed5646]

Invite Ireland for test series .they are ready to come

[Shazzam]

Invite Ireland for test series .they are ready to come

I agree it will be a good contest between bat and bowl.

[Sher Khan]

Bangladesh are acting too rich here. Their country is no safer than Pakistan. The only reason thy are avoiding to play in Pakistan, is because of their ego factor. They are also aware that they will be beaten to a pulp in Pakistan.

If i was the PCB CEO in the letter i would state clearly " that the PCB is fine with Bangladesh not touring Pakistan and that the BCB in that case should contact the ICC and simply forfeit the test series".

[Mamoon]

2009 was not that long ago? it was a decade ago. children that were born in 2009 are now in 5th grade in school. more importantly, the situation on the ground from 2007-2014 was TOTALLY different than what it is now.

It doesn’t matter what grade a 2009 baby would be in today. The point is that what happened with the Sri Lankan team was no joke and the fact that we have managed to host more than a dozen matches in Pakistan in the last 10 years is fantastic, because it could have been a lot worse.

My point is that just because Sri Lanka agreed it doesn’t mean that other countries will now make a beeline to tour Pakistan for Test cricket.

We are not in a position to show arrogance or to dictate terms. Whining and moaning about certain boards will not make our situation better. We have to be patient and we have to continue to take incremental steps to restore cricket permanently.

Remember - one incident and we can forget international cricket in Pakistan for 20 years. We still have very little credibility and we have very little leverage.

[Ajjerz]

If this was the plan of action pakistan would only be playing Sri lanka as no one else has played tests in pakistan. Pakistan has every right to stand firm and pesist that their home series will be played in Pakistan.

[adil_909]

Remember - one incident and we can forget international cricket in Pakistan for 20 years. We still have very little credibility and we have very little leverage.

yawn, at what point will this stop being an excuse? this made sense in 2012. it doesn't make sense anymore. any incident can happen anywhere at any time. in fact its more likely something will happen in india given all the social unrest than in pakistan where these visiting players are getting VIP security. of course what happened in 09 against the SL team was a huge deal. but that was a different pakistan. the fact that this SL team has come to the new pakistan and deemed it safe is very symbolic and there is no reason other boards should not also feel safe. especially a fellow muslim country like BD has absolutely ZERO excuse not to tour, other than trying to score cheap political points with BCCI and the indian government

[ZamanFan]

BCB is avoiding discussing tour with PCB to allow BPL to pass smoothly, and no mishap occurs during their T20 league.

PCB should revoke NoCs of Pakistani players and tell them to come back. Should also limit Bangladesh role in ACC.