Friday 27 January 2017 09:48, UK
In the second part of an interview with Saj Sadiq, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq talks about Mohammad Amir, player development and the importance of top-level cricket returning to Pakistan...
Q: Do you think the reaction from some former Pakistan players to the 3-0 Test series loss in Australia has been too harsh?
A: It goes without saying that whenever you lose a series in the manner in which we did, and fail to perform as we demonstrated in the final innings in Melbourne, then it is obvious that you will be faced with criticism.
In a way, it is expected and you should not be surprised or take it to heart. You cannot fail in the way we did in Melbourne where we lost the game after declaring for 443 in the first innings and then expect not to be taken to task in the media. That criticism was justified.
Whether some people went overboard or not is not for me to decide or comment upon as I was in Australia and not paying attention to such stuff on television and other media.
Do you think a lack of county cricket is hurting the development of Pakistani cricketers?
It is definitely an issue to be addressed as playing in different conditions is very beneficial for our cricketers as it helps them gain experience away from Pakistan.
Not just English country cricket, it would be great for our players to get chances to regularly play in Australia and South Africa so that they can perform better for Pakistan during future tours of those countries. This way they will have good prior experience of playing in these countries.
This would be better than going to somewhere like Australia after a period of six years and start playing Test or ODI cricket almost immediately after arrival. When that happens, by the time they get used to the conditions and get an idea of the local pitches, the series is already over.
It is important that the players get ample opportunities to play away from Pakistan before any official tours so that they can represent Pakistan in an effective manner during international assignments.
What do you make of Mohammad Amir's bowling since his return to international cricket?
If we analyse his bowling in terms of pace, he is right up there with the very best in the world today. But despite bowling well, the wickets column looks very sparse.
Yes, he has been a little unlucky but the lack of wickets is a concern as it did not conform to the expectations of the team. Regardless of that, Amir is working hard and putting in an excellent effort.
His bowling speeds are easily in the 140-plus kph range and the more cricket he plays, he should be able to pick more wickets along the way.
A lot was expected of Yasir Shah but he failed to make an impact during the Australia tour. Why was that the case?
It's down to the fact that when one goes into alien conditions, you are bound to struggle. When a bowler has no idea of the pace or the line to bowl in such different conditions then obviously, he comes under tremendous pressure.
If the opposition can see this weakness, they will play you better. To be fair, this happens to most spin bowlers when they go to Australia. So, if you want to know why Yasir could not succeed as much as we expected then I would say it was due to lack of exposure and experience in those conditions.
Was the workload on Yasir also a factor which contributed to his ineffectiveness on this tour?
This is a correct observation and it stems from the fact that if we don't have a dependable fifth bowler to share the burden then the pressure comes squarely on the regular bowlers.
If a team does not have the luxury of an all-rounder or a batsman who can bowl as well, then such problems can arise. The pressure on the regular bowlers thus becomes immense.
In Yasir's case, if he has to bowl 30-plus overs then his effectiveness is destroyed due to tiredness. We had to face this issue in England as well and we tried to fix the problem in the UAE against the West Indies by playing Mohammad Nawaz as an all-rounder and a fifth bowling option.
Unfortunately, that move did not pay-off as he couldn't really adjust into the team in the way we wanted. This problem then followed us in Australia as well which probably negated Yasir's advantage for us.
Why did the Pakistani batsmen continually repeat the same mistakes on tour in Australia?
I think, by and large, we were coping fine with our batting until that second innings in Melbourne. We played well and declared at 443 in our first innings. Australia then counter-attacked and flattened our spirits.
Sadly from a position of strength, the scenario completely changed to one where we were desperately trying to save the game. The pressure of the situation forced errors from our batsmen and we lost that Test match.
This pressure not only affected our innings in Melbourne, it also affected the remaining part of the Test series. At times in cricket, when the momentum shifts in that manner then it becomes very difficult to stabilise things.
Batsmen start to make simple mistakes. Of course, we should be able to counter this shift in power but the fact is that we, as a team, failed to do so.
Do you think the decision to play the Pakistan Super League final in Lahore is the right one, even if it means some foreign players will not play in it?
Despite the fact that foreign players may not play in Lahore in the PSL final, we as Pakistanis need to make an effort to bring such high-profile games back home. We cannot keep on playing these games outside Pakistan forever.
We have to make this effort and try and make a breakthrough in this matter to bring cricket back to Pakistan as the damage being done to our cricket is immense and its adverse effects are well known.
It is good to see that PCB is making an effort to make this happen as we need to start from somewhere in our efforts to bring cricket back to Pakistan.
