Misbah hopes for better performance in Tests against Australia

Pakistan’s head coach-cum-chief selector Misbahul Haq, in a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) podcast, expressed hope for a better performance from the Men in Green in the upcoming Test series against Australia after their lacklustre display in the recently concluded Twenty20 International (T20I’s) series which ended in a two-nil series defeat.

Misbah believed that the Men in Green’s Test side contained mature and experienced players who have played cricket in Australia.

“We are a good Test side, there are youngsters in it as well and we will be hoping to play good cricket,” Misbah said. “Overall, I feel that our Test side is mature and experienced and some players have played cricket in Australia before as well.”

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The former captain talked about the struggles of the Pakistan batsmen in the T20I series while pointing out the positives in the form of batsmen Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed.

“Until we score 170-180 runs in T20I’s, we only had 2 batsmen who played well in the series, the rest could not contribute so we have to improve these aspects of the game in the future,” he said. “The biggest positive in this series was Babar Azam's form, also the way Iftikhar Ahmed played is the biggest plus for us.”

Misbah stated that the Men in Green were outclassed by Australia and needed to improve in all aspects of the game.

“The way our youngsters bowled, especially Musa as he bowled with good pace, I feel that these youngsters can serve our cricket in the future. I believe we need to improve our fitness and discipline in all 3 departments of the game which is where we are lacking, and Australia outclassed us in that; Especially, fielding was a clear difference, also their bowling in the right areas and then we could not stop their top-3 batsmen,” he concluded.