Misbah-ul-Haq "I’m not satisfied with the performances and I want to see an improvement"

[Saj]

Misbah-ul-Haq press conference earlier today:

Our practice is going very well and we have been working on the things that we needed to work on especially on our fielding. After the previous series we need to be looking at making maximum improvements.

We’ve been doing dedicated sessions of 50 minutes for specialist fielding positions and hopefully this will result in an improvement in our fielding during the upcoming matches.

Overall we are ready and we are looking forward to the start of the series at home and that we put in a good performance and bring our confidence levels back up.

I’m not satisfied with the performances and I want to see an improvement. My full focus is on this series and on our performances, and we’ll try to improve our shortcomings and remove the mistakes we have been making. Everything else like my future etc doesn’t matter as this is where our complete focus is.

All my life I’ve played cricket under pressure and you have to perform. There is no security or assurance. The most important thing I have learnt is that the job in hand is where your responsibility should be. I’m not thinking about whatever happens regarding my role in the future my focus is just on the next series.

There’s been a lot of speculation that the PCB has forced Mohammad Yousuf and Saqlain Mushtaq to work with the players without my agreement but that is not true. Saqlain is there to work with our spinners especially the guys who are new and have been doing well in domestic cricket. Regarding Yousuf’s involvement, Younis Khan is still the lead when it comes to coaching the batsmen and all of us coaches are working together and communicating with each other about the players. This also helps when these players go back to the NHPC and the coaches know about what they need to work on with the players. Also Yousuf and Saqlain will be working with the players for the T20I series so we are communicating with them also about what they need to work on with the players ahead of that series too.

When we played against South Africa in UAE they had good spinners and they had AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis who were all great players of spin which made them competitive there. In their own conditions they were always tough for any Asian side due to the extra bounce and their pace-bowlers. Hopefully this is a different South African side and we’ll be looking to improve our record against them. Overall they are a strong side with good fast bowlers who can utilise reverse-swing very well. A lot of their players play in IPL against spinners so they’ve improved their technique against spinners. This is a good time to play this series and come back and play some good cricket.

The advantage we have is that our players have recently been playing in Karachi and our players are familiar with the conditions. This is a great opportunity for our players as they have been playing a lot of cricket recently in Karachi and of course we played a Test match not so long ago in Karachi against Sri Lanka. So hopefully we have a good chance of playing good cricket and winning.

The series we played in New Zealand was in totally different conditions where we struggled with the swing and bounce. Here in Pakistan it’s a totally different scenario where the mode of dismissals will be different and spinners will have a bigger role. We’ve tried to forget about the New Zealand series and what happened and focused on what our batsmen will encounter in Pakistani conditions, especially scoring opportunities, playing spinners and against reverse-swing.

One or two days in quarantine isn’t too bad, but when it’s a couple of weeks and you cannot practice then that’s a difficult scenario. Hopefully the vaccine will improve the situation. It’s a big advantage if you can start practising straight away and train and focus on cricket straight away and mentally it’s not too bad. Hopefully in our future away series we can start practising soon after arriving.

Every captain starts from zero and Babar is the same. I’ve discussed the plans with Babar especially the bowling plans and how to utilise the bowlers and execute the plans and their fielding plans. Our hope is that Babar goes onto the field with a free mind. He’s an intelligent cricketer and we are giving him a free hand as captain so he can make his own decisions on the field and how to take the team forward. Hopefully this is how he will learn and this is how there will be improvement in his captaincy.

The Karachi wicket rarely changes throughout the season so we know what to expect. You can’t change the pitch drastically so the South Africans will know what to expect. Based on what I have seen this season from the Karachi pitch, I’m clear with what combination we want to go in with. You can go into a match with all the plans and strategies, but what matters is executing the plans and strategies.

We’ll discuss amongst ourselves regarding the final XI. It’s just rumours that I am picking the final XI. The management group and players are a team with everyone going in the same direction. We’ll debate regarding the final XI and it’s a unanimous decision. We’ll analyse everything and then pick our final XI.

Whether you are a bowler, batsman, fielder, coach there is always pressure and you have to deal with it and it’s not something new. There is no need to think about what is out of your control. What is in our control is effort, to give our best, preparation, strategies and then let’s see whatever the results are and you have to accept the result as that is not under your control.

[Saj]

Body language has never been Misbah's strong point but this presser was particularly bad.

[Rana]

We are not Satisfied with you Misbah and we want to see you gone!

[Shazzam]

Looking forward of seeing South Africa ending this Misbah Dynasty. We will be proud as a nation to see this malice gone.

[UzmanBeast]

Those of you who are hoping that we lose just to see the back of Misbah are going down the wrong path.

I agree that he needs to leave, but he should do so with respect. His contract should be terminated by the superiors. As a team in the midst of development, every win for us is important, it takes us one step closer to achieving some of our goals.

Confidence matters. You can have the world's most talented player be short on confidence and score 0s, and you can have the worlds least talented player with heaps of confidence go on an improve and win matches.

We need confidence, as a team, and for players individually.

The results have been disappointing, most reasons attributing to Misbah's team selection (ie. Iftikhar in Australian tests, Ahmed Shehzad and Akmal in T20, etc.).

However, that is no reason to hope that our team loses.

[ask_analyse_act]

Sadly he will continue if Pak wins the series + Andy turned down the offer.

[Yk313]

Body language has never been Misbah's strong point but this presser was particularly bad.

In what sense? Was he timid or was he venting?

I haven’t seen it yet, so curious to hear what you think.

[Yk313]

Sadly he will continue if Pak wins the series + Andy turned down the offer.

That shouldn’t matter anyway. Don’t agree with concept of losing for ‘greater good’.

[Kroll]

How were you ever going to be satisfied with performances when you completely dismantled Inzi/MA team? Then ushering in your own expired friends and ended up with egg all over your face.

You had a great opportunity to do something special with the trust that PCB bestowed upon you, yet you still were hell bent on destroying the team.

The right thing will be for Misbah to be gone but I can't help thinking what a waste of a year and half it will have been to now go and start clearing up the big mess that he's made during this time.

[Savak]

Lol Misbah and not being satisfied with mediocrity? Yeah, right.

[Saj]

In what sense? Was he timid or was he venting?

I haven’t seen it yet, so curious to hear what you think.

His press conferences rarely give much away, but today he seemed very flat.

I think whilst he's not admitting to it, the pressure is getting to him. He knows this is his last chance and if Pakistan lose the Test series to South Africa he's gone.

[HasanA]

This is such a vapid response

Pakistan's NZ performance was absolutely abysmal even by normal standards.

They now come back to Pakistan where home conditions will help them but the overall performance relative to home ground historical performances will remain substandard

Misbah will say look we improved

everyone will fall for it.

Rinse Repeat. Pakistan will continue to suffer

[Junaids]

His press conferences rarely give much away, but today he seemed very flat.

I think whilst he's not admitting to it, the pressure is getting to him. He knows this is his last chance and if Pakistan lose the Test series to South Africa he's gone.

I think he pi**ed on his own chips in New Zealand. And there is absolutely NO coming back from this.

Pakistan always perform creditably there: even the 2-0 defeat in 2016-17 only happened because Pakistan - 1 wicket down at Tea on Day 5 - made a madcap attempt to level the series.

Misbah thought that he could camouflage the fact that he was filling his team with 30-somethings by sprinkling in a couple of kids. He has never understood that the heavy lifting has to be done by guys in their twenties in any sports team, and that Rizwan was the last one left.

[Saj]

One interesting point I picked up on though was how much emphasis Misbah was putting on the spinners and the batsmen working with Saqlain and Yousuf ahead of this series.....just in case they flop I guess

[YousafTheBeast]

If he’s not happy with the performances shouldn’t all the players be dropped? Wasn’t that the reason why Amir was dropped?

[hitthestump]

One interesting point I picked up on though was how much emphasis Misbah was putting on the spinners and the batsmen working with Saqlain and Yousuf ahead of this series.....just in case they flop I guess

This is a shame, but then again we've known since his captaincy days that Misbah is one for excuses rather than accountability.

[Junaids]

One interesting point I picked up on though was how much emphasis Misbah was putting on the spinners and the batsmen working with Saqlain and Yousuf ahead of this series.....just in case they flop I guess

But he played in Pakistan for 2 decades. Doesn't he understand that except on the Javed Miandad/Iqbal Qasim doctored wickets of the late-1980's, the quicks tend to do more damage than the spinners?

After all, the reason why Mickey Arthur stubbornly stuck to 1 spinner in the UAE was because his South Africa had won a series in Pakistan 13 years ago with 4 quicks plus Paul Harris (who was a Mohammad Nawaz/Ashley Giles quality slow left-armer).

If Misbah goes in to this series with a bowling attack of

7. Faheem Ashraf
8. Yasir Shah
9. Hasan Ali
10. Nauman Ali
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi


I think he risks finding himself with too many spinners and too few quicks. I don't see 20 wickets there.

[Zeshan547]

But he played in Pakistan for 2 decades. Doesn't he understand that except on the Javed Miandad/Iqbal Qasim doctored wickets of the late-1980's, the quicks tend to do more damage than the spinners?

After all, the reason why Mickey Arthur stubbornly stuck to 1 spinner in the UAE was because his South Africa had won a series in Pakistan 13 years ago with 4 quicks plus Paul Harris (who was a Mohammad Nawaz/Ashley Giles quality slow left-armer).

If Misbah goes in to this series with a bowling attack of

7. Faheem Ashraf
8. Yasir Shah
9. Hasan Ali
10. Nauman Ali
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi


I think he risks finding himself with too many spinners and too few quicks. I don't see 20 wickets there.

Three quick too few in Asia, and that South Africa didn't left Warne at home. What kind of logic is this. @MMHS this is at whole new level of cricket selection and genius? Would love your take on this that three Pacers in Pak are not enough that too in Karachi not some place like Rawalpindi.?

[Giannis]

I feel like he hasn't been retired long enough to earn the respect of his players; most of these guys were his friends, he's played with them so it's hard for them to see him as a coach and thus making it harder for to make difficult decisions. I think in order to be the head coach you should've been retired for at least 10 years before being eligible.

[shaz619]

Three quick too few in Asia, and that South Africa didn't left Warne at home. What kind of logic is this. @MMHS this is at whole new level of cricket selection and genius? Would love your take on this that three Pacers in Pak are not enough that too in Karachi not some place like Rawalpindi.?

2.5 quicks as Faheem is not playing as a specialist pacer

[Yk313]

His press conferences rarely give much away, but today he seemed very flat.

I think whilst he's not admitting to it, the pressure is getting to him. He knows this is his last chance and if Pakistan lose the Test series to South Africa he's gone.

Fair play.

When I first read your post I imagined, in my mind, him having been tetchy as he had been during one of his pressers early in his career - possibly the SRL series one where he kept snapping at the journalists.

But when you say ‘flat’ doesn’t sound like it can get worse. In a strange way, if he feels a bit of pressure it may just be good; it may be because he thinks he is in with a shot of improving his chances of survival.

If he appears to be all resigned to his fate then, and in the absence of a successor, there isn’t much to look forward to.

[Junaids]

Three quick too few in Asia, and that South Africa didn't left Warne at home. What kind of logic is this. @MMHS this is at whole new level of cricket selection and genius? Would love your take on this that three Pacers in Pak are not enough that too in Karachi not some place like Rawalpindi.?

I don't think Faheem Ashraf counts as a third quick. He's half a quick.

So you risk ending up with 2.5 quicks and 2 spinners, which I have grave doubts about working at Karachi in particular.

[Junaids]

Three quick too few in Asia, and that South Africa didn't left Warne at home. What kind of logic is this. @MMHS this is at whole new level of cricket selection and genius? Would love your take on this that three Pacers in Pak are not enough that too in Karachi not some place like Rawalpindi.?

If I had a choice, I would look much more at this sort of model in Pakistan- but certainly not in the UAE:

5. Mohammad Nawaz
6. Rohail Nazir (wk)
7. Shadab Khan
8. Sajid Khan
9. Hasan Ali
10. Skiddy reverse-swinging quick - Naseem Shah or Haris Rauf
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi

That gives me 3 full-time quicks, 1 full-time spinner and 2 part-time spinners, and a range of spinners moving the ball both into and away from the batsman.

But Faheem Ashraf really worries me as a third seamer. He's fine as a fourth seamer in SENA, but I wouldn't be confident with him as a third seamer.

[Thunderbolt14]

If I had a choice, I would look much more at this sort of model in Pakistan- but certainly not in the UAE:

5. Mohammad Nawaz
6. Rohail Nazir (wk)
7. Shadab Khan
8. Sajid Khan
9. Hasan Ali
10. Skiddy reverse-swinging quick - Naseem Shah or Haris Rauf
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi

That gives me 3 full-time quicks, 1 full-time spinner and 2 part-time spinners, and a range of spinners moving the ball both into and away from the batsman.

But Faheem Ashraf really worries me as a third seamer. He's fine as a fourth seamer in SENA, but I wouldn't be confident with him as a third seamer.

Your tail is too long, neither Naseem nor Haris is an upgrade on Faheem, and none of your spinners are good enough to act as spearheads. Who is your spearhead?

[Shafi]

Sadly he will continue if Pak wins the series + Andy turned down the offer.

Andy turned down offer??

[Esfahani]

Body language has never been Misbah's strong point but this presser was particularly bad.

i dont think so hes good public skills but idk about locker room or leadership. we should bring in javed miandad to do the coaching, hes a good man

[moghul]

Those of you who are hoping that we lose just to see the back of Misbah are going down the wrong path.

I agree that he needs to leave, but he should do so with respect. His contract should be terminated by the superiors. As a team in the midst of development, every win for us is important, it takes us one step closer to achieving some of our goals.

Confidence matters. You can have the world's most talented player be short on confidence and score 0s, and you can have the worlds least talented player with heaps of confidence go on an improve and win matches.

We need confidence, as a team, and for players individually.

The results have been disappointing, most reasons attributing to Misbah's team selection (ie. Iftikhar in Australian tests, Ahmed Shehzad and Akmal in T20, etc.).

However, that is no reason to hope that our team loses.

We have been losing to every team, if one more loss will kick Misbah out, it will be a success in the long run and will be in best interest of the team Pakistan . An abscess or tumor needs to be drained or resected for complete recovery and body goes through pain for sometime.

[UzmanBeast]

We have been losing to every team, if one more loss will kick Misbah out, it will be a success in the long run and will be in best interest of the team Pakistan . An abscess or tumor needs to be drained or resected for complete recovery and body goes through pain for sometime.

Don't underestimate what one loss can do to a nation.

We lose a game here, we might see the players we wanted to keep on the team get replaced by the next Head Coach.

Misbah can keep giving his empty statements to the media, that's all he should be there for. The team making is left to Babar Azam and Mohammad Wasim, far from Misbah's choices.

Hence, there's no need to have such a dramatic change right now.

[MenInG]

Question really is whether this improvement can come in Misbah's reign?

[Khan12]

Beghairat of the highest order.

[Pakpak]

How has this fraud not been sacked I'll never know.

[Energy]

Misbah must be wondering at least I used to tuk tuk and give the team 50 runs on average.

The current lot is incapable of even blocking for long periods. The batting is made up of a bunch of weirdos. Some have stance issues, others reflex issues, hardworking issues, while some being lazy disinterested.

[Cric1234]

He doesn’t even know what the best batting lineup is he’s way of in his selection of players this lineup is close to what we should play in tests:

Haider
Azhar
Babar
Saud
Akmal
Ghulam
Rizwan

[Khan12]

He doesn’t even know what the best batting lineup is he’s way of in his selection of players this lineup is close to what we should play in tests:

Haider
Azhar
Babar
Saud
Akmal
Ghulam
Rizwan

Akmal? And Haider opening in tests i dont mind him at 5 but at opening he will be exposed with technique currently.

[Hasan123]

Misbah isn't a great coach. I am record as saying that. But blaming him after every performance is just stupid. Espiecally today. You have to look at the batters who are playing in home conditions and can't even get to the end of the day without losing a wicket. That is very poor cricket.

[Cric1234]

Akmal? And Haider opening in tests i dont mind him at 5 but at opening he will be exposed with technique currently.

Akmal has been the best test batsman in the last 5 years without playing capable of making some big hundreds in Asia.
Haider made a 100 opening in last years QAE final he has potential as a long term investment test him out against Zimbabwe or Bangladesh.

[Khan12]

Misbah isn't a great coach. I am record as saying that. But blaming him after every performance is just stupid. Espiecally today. You have to look at the batters who are playing in home conditions and can't even get to the end of the day without losing a wicket. That is very poor cricket.

For a start who requested for a pitch like this? Secondly why can't you open with Azhar and bring in Saud who is a left hander and will help as SA are playing 2 left arm spinners. Agreed we played poor cricket but its has become a norm since this beghairat has taken over.

[Khan12]

Akmal has been the best test batsman in the last 5 years without playing capable of making some big hundreds in Asia.
Haider made a 100 opening in last years QAE final he has potential as a long term investment test him out against Zimbabwe or Bangladesh.

Akmal at the moment is banned thankfully we have seen enough of him to know hes brainsless. Haider I know has opened and done well but international cricket is different and with his current technique he will not last long in the opening spot. He needs to get more get side on. Work on his backfoot game and develop temprement.

[Hasan123]

For a start who requested for a pitch like this? Secondly why can't you open with Azhar and bring in Saud who is a left hander and will help as SA are playing 2 left arm spinners. Agreed we played poor cricket but its has become a norm since this beghairat has taken over.

In regards to the pitch ,let's see how it later in the game. Don't think it's that bad. Just been some bad batting.

I don't think Azhar wants to open. We can't force him to do something he doesn’t want to.

[hitthestump]

This batting performance rests more on Younis Khan's shoulders. Why were they so afraid? This isn't the first time Babar has been found wanting against left arm spin and they already pointed Maharaj as SA's biggest threat.

Who was responsible for picking Imran Butt? He has absolutely no technique against what Rabada and co are going to throw at him.

[Shafi]

Unless Mani leaves and IK stop meddling people like Misbah, Waqar will keep the job.

[ex-q-zit]

Akmal has been the best test batsman in the last 5 years without playing capable of making some big hundreds in Asia.
Haider made a 100 opening in last years QAE final he has potential as a long term investment test him out against Zimbabwe or Bangladesh.

That's the problem. You use Zim or Bangladesh as a standard to gauge players. Even mediocre players will excel against these teams but will be found woefully short against better teams.

Fakhar zaman is a classic example. He made a double against Zim and was hailed as the next batting superstar but we all know what happened afterwards. Yes, he made a century in CT2017 finals but was lucky to be out on no ball.

They shud have continued with Shan despite his string of 0s as he atleast performed at home and a couple of good scores would have done wonders to his confidence which could then be carried over to away tours as well.

[Flat_Track_Bully]

This batting performance rests more on Younis Khan's shoulders. Why were they so afraid? This isn't the first time Babar has been found wanting against left arm spin and they already pointed Maharaj as SA's biggest threat.

Who was responsible for picking Imran Butt? He has absolutely no technique against what Rabada and co are going to throw at him.

I noticed a lot of batters doing the Younis shuffle. If he is changing techniques without a method and ofcourse he has no method, he can barely communicate in a presser, then its going to lead to batters second guessing themselves trying to make 'Younis bhai' happy.

[hitthestump]

They shud have continued with Shan despite his string of 0s as he atleast performed at home and a couple of good scores would have done wonders to his confidence which could then be carried over to away tours as well.

Shan should be there as he has shown competency against short pitched bowling but let's be honest, he didn't deserve it. His own fault for performing so poorly and letting the side down.

[JaDed]

Wonder what would Pakistani posters prefer loss in this series and Misbah Waqar ouster? Or win here and stuck with them for some more time.

The blessing in disguise Infinity

[saabir]

I'm feeling really sad by seeing Pakistan in such a terrible state of affairs. I grown up watching pakistan team having great players like Anwar, Ijaz, inzi, Mallik, Razzak, Afridi, moin, Akram, waqar, Akhter. Although they lost matches from minnows sides like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh but on their day they can beat any side. This Current pakistan team Seems to be sort of confidence, talent, and fear of loosing in their eyes. Then u have Waqar and Misbah as coaches. Waqar was always a poor man manager and Misbah is a very very poor coach. On the other hand the way India is playing Fearless cricket.Their coaches are giving them the plans and they are executing them perfectly.

[Shoaibbtt]

Wonder what would Pakistani posters prefer loss in this series and Misbah Waqar ouster? Or win here and stuck with them for some more time.

The blessing in disguise Infinity

Personally i want a win cause of what it does for Pak cricket and also see my fav players prove people wrong.

[ask_analyse_act]

Now players who are dropped like Shan Haris and Imam will suddenly become better players and fans will want to rep,ace the current lot with the dropped players.

Mind that only Nauman Ali was selected and none of the middle order (Saud, ghulam, salman ) are selected.

Logic behind faheem ahead of Nawaz in Karachi only Misbah can do.

[ask_analyse_act]

Pakistan shouldn’t waste any money hiring a foreign coach and let it rot with Misbah.

No openers, no middle order , no spinner, no pacer. Accept mediocrity and move on.

[shamaan]

In regards to the pitch ,let's see how it later in the game. Don't think it's that bad. Just been some bad batting.

I don't think Azhar wants to open. We can't force him to do something he doesn’t want to.

sometimes you have to take the decisions out of their hands

[Shazzam]

Don't underestimate what one loss can do to a nation.

We lose a game here, we might see the players we wanted to keep on the team get replaced by the next Head Coach.

Misbah can keep giving his empty statements to the media, that's all he should be there for. The team making is left to Babar Azam and Mohammad Wasim, far from Misbah's choices.

Hence, there's no need to have such a dramatic change right now.

A win here will keep Misbah as a coach. What you are suggesting would probably work for any other nation not Pakistan. And no one loss here won’t dent us much. When we are accustomed to it by now due to this management.

[UzmanBeast]

A win here will keep Misbah as a coach. What you are suggesting would probably work for any other nation not Pakistan. And no one loss here won’t dent us much. When we are accustomed to it by now due to this management.

Imagine we go into the Pindi Test while playing Saud Shakeel and Imran Butt.

We lose.

The new management comes in and thinks that these youngsters did not work, and instead brings some other random players who they think are "better".

We'd end up with more wasted talents like Fawad Alam.

That's why I don't want us to lose, instead, PCB should ask Misbah to resign.

Waqar should also resign as a bowling coach.

[Shazzam]

Imagine we go into the Pindi Test while playing Saud Shakeel and Imran Butt.

We lose.

The new management comes in and thinks that these youngsters did not work, and instead brings some other random players who they think are "better".

We'd end up with more wasted talents like Fawad Alam.

That's why I don't want us to lose, instead, PCB should ask Misbah to resign.

Waqar should also resign as a bowling coach.

I get your point you are saying a loss effects the type of players we have. A loss will likely get those deserving dropped in a new management.

What I am suggesting is a change in a coach. No way will PCB ask Misbah to resign as a coach if they win here. Its pretty clear they are forgetful of past performances when it comes to coaching. I’d like to add I only want the coaches to change M.Wasim can stay, Babar Azam as captain can stay. With M.Wasim being as a chief selector I do not see any major changes being made if a new coach comes in place of Misbah.

[JaDed]

Personally i want a win cause of what it does for Pak cricket and also see my fav players prove people wrong.

Considering its test cricket that’s actually how it should be, am sure fans are waiting to pound though, esp Mamoon on Pakistan/management and others on Waqar/Misbah

[Shafi]

By appointing Misbah and Waqar along with fielding coach Wasim Khan damaged our cricket more than anything

[Shoaibbtt]

Considering its test cricket that’s actually how it should be, am sure fans are waiting to pound though, esp Mamoon on Pakistan/management and others on Waqar/Misbah

Some of the guys on here wait for guys to fail, it's easy to hate someone than to encourage them. People went on a barrage about Babar failing, even Tendulkar said you can't score in every game/innings. People here lack Sabr.

[TheSultan]

I think Waqar and Misbah thought to themselves that they’re playing at home, weak SA side, couple of wins and we can brush the 6 months under the carpet.

I don’t even need to wish they lose, they are incapable of winning with this mindset.

[Junaids]

Question really is whether this improvement can come in Misbah's reign?

How could it?

Mohammad Wasim gives him a relatively refreshed squad and he still manages to make a pig's ear of it, preferring failing oldies to in-form men in their peak years.

Asad Shafiq only got dropped two Tests ago.

It was completely Misbah's decision to replace a 34 year old with a 35 year old Fawad Alam (averaging 25.00 since his comeback) rather than a 25 year old Saud Shakeel.

As long as Misbah remains the Head Coach with a Captain whom he used to be the captain of, he will control the team.

And as long as Misbah controls the team, no matter what the question is the only answers will be:

a) Pick another player aged over 34
b) Pick another player aged over 32
c) Pick another player aged over 31
d) Pick another player aged over 30
e) Pick another player aged under 19

These are the only answers in Misbah's playbook. He knows no other way.

[Khan12]

In regards to the pitch ,let's see how it later in the game. Don't think it's that bad. Just been some bad batting.

I don't think Azhar wants to open. We can't force him to do something he doesn’t want to.

This is Pakistan team not azhar his best postion is opening and he pretty much opens every inning anyway. With him opening gives us an option of saud shakeel.

[Usman]

Wonder what would Pakistani posters prefer loss in this series and Misbah Waqar ouster? Or win here and stuck with them for some more time.

The blessing in disguise Infinity

No true Pakistani fan would ever hope for the team to lose. Plus we have had many blessing in disguise losses and nothing has changed. I am ashamed to say our problems in test cricket run deep.

What frustrates me the most is the lack of imagination. They say don't mess with a winning formula but in Pakistan, we follow the logic that you cannot mess with a losing formula.

Abid Ali did nothing against New Zealand to deserve selection here. Imran Butt has s woeful First Class record and mark my words - his selection will end in tears much like Shan Masood. This is Misbah's problem - lack of imagination or thinking out the box.

If I was Misbah or Babar I would say right, forget batting positions, who are my best batsmen? That's Azhar, Babar, Fawad, Rizwaan, Saud and Kamran. That's 6 names there each of whom exceed, in ability, guys like Abid and Imran by a country mile. This is self evident by comparing long term records. So, let's play our best 6 batsmen. That means Azhar opens the batting and one of Saud or Kamran opens with him.

I don't buy the argument that a middle order batter is incapable of opening. I would strongly argue that a batsman who averages 50 in a middle order position will comfortably outperform an opener averaging 30, even if that middle order batsman opens.

Try it. You're not winning any games going down the conventional route and it's time Misbah and Babar tried to change things up.

[UzmanBeast]

I get your point you are saying a loss effects the type of players we have. A loss will likely get those deserving dropped in a new management.

What I am suggesting is a change in a coach. No way will PCB ask Misbah to resign as a coach if they win here. Its pretty clear they are forgetful of past performances when it comes to coaching. I’d like to add I only want the coaches to change M.Wasim can stay, Babar Azam as captain can stay. With M.Wasim being as a chief selector I do not see any major changes being made if a new coach comes in place of Misbah.

It could go either way essentially.

[aukhan]

Unless Mani leaves and IK stop meddling people like Misbah, Waqar will keep the job.

Misbah was selected by PM and our handsome PM is a dheet admi so Misbah is going nowhere until the next election.

[Shazzam]

It could go either way essentially.

Not in my known history of following PCB. They don’t drop a coach after a win. Usually a number of losses deal the fatal blow.

[UzmanBeast]

Not in my known history of following PCB. They don’t drop a coach after a win. Usually a number of losses deal the fatal blow.

Personally, I have more criticism of Waqar Younis than Misbah-ul-Haq.

Misbah is a head coach who has even lost the ability to select the team, all he is allowed to do is give advice and provide the press with blank statements.

Waqar Younis hasn't developed our pacers at all, Shaheen still can't reverse the ball, Hasan just came back to the side, and Faheem is not being bowled enough.

Bowling Faheem for 5 overs is just pathetic, if you were going to do that in the first place you should have played Salman Agha for that other spin option, or even another genuine batsman.

I think Waqar Younis needs to leave the bowling coach spot, because he has failed to bring the much needed skills into our red ball bowling attack.

[MenInG]

Could a Misbah Coached team defeat South Africa in this Test series?

[KingOfPakBreakfast]

Could a Misbah Coached team defeat South Africa in this Test series?

They absolutely could, however Misbah will eventually be shown up against a full strength top 5 white ball team, and on any overseas test tour.

I expect Pakistan to handily beat South Africa's T20 C team, and for Misbah's Reign to continue. Then we'll probably get whipped in the overseas white ball tours of SA and Eng and we'll be back to questioning Misbah's position.

The PCB need to scout his replacement now and agree contracts etc. Because of it doesn't happen soon, it's almost guaranteed to happen post the T20 world cup this year.

[Shafi]

They absolutely could, however Misbah will eventually be shown up against a full strength top 5 white ball team, and on any overseas test tour.

I expect Pakistan to handily beat South Africa's T20 C team, and for Misbah's Reign to continue. Then we'll probably get whipped in the overseas white ball tours of SA and Eng and we'll be back to questioning Misbah's position.

The PCB need to scout his replacement now and agree contracts etc. Because of it doesn't happen soon, it's almost guaranteed to happen post the T20 world cup this year.

Misbah may get another 2 years extension after S Africa series.

[MenInG]

Coaching the Pakistan cricket team should come with a health warning #Cricket pic.twitter.com/Z2U17xS2rR

— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) January 29, 2021