Misbah keen to extend his good run as captain

[Lily]

Abu Dhabi: Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq is hoping to extend his record of not having lost a series in the last year when his team takes on Sri Lanka in a three-Test series starting here on Tuesday.

After their loss to England during the ‘spot-fixing' series in England, Pakistan drew against South Africa here in the UAE, beat New Zealand 1-0 in an away series, then drew 1-1 with the West Indies in the Caribbean and beat Zimbabwe 1-0 in Zimbabwe.

"As far as the team is concerned, morale is very good because we're playing good Test cricket for the last year. Everyone knows his role and we are just playing consistently," Misbah told a press conference yesterday at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.

"There are not many changes in the team, everyone knows his role and more important, everyone is performing in this team. That is the key because it is about teamwork not just some players. That has been helping us over the last year," the 37-year-old Pakistan skipper said.

Misbah said his team has not been affected much by the change in their coach after Mohsin Khan replaced Waqar Younus.

Individual roles

"I think Waqar did a wonderful job with the team. It doesn't matter that the coach has changed because Mohsin Khan is also passionate about Pakistan cricket. The main thing is players, they must know their roles, they must realise what they must do. That is the key to the team and our players are doing that very well."

The Pakistan skipper as well as team manager Col. Naushad Ali said the change at the top in PCB where Ejaz Butt was replaced by Zaka Ashraf will not have any bearing on the team.

"We are not concerned about that. We just want to focus on our cricket, our performance, the team performs well, that is the role," said Misbah while the manager said: "We are a professional team. Boys are looking for a good performance. Anything happens at the top of the PCB, that hardly makes a difference to us; we have to perform in all conditions."

Misbah said playing in the UAE was as good as playing at home and was keen to make that count.

"We want to play Tests at home. We're missing cricket there in Pakistan, but we can't do anything about that. The available option is here and this feels like home to us. We know the conditions well, everybody plays well here and that's a good thing for us and we'd like to continue that," Misbah said.
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[RomaKairon]

Thanks​

 

[Harpreet Seehra]

Budha hogea hun tahn Misbah ...