Would be a 'huge disappointment' if Bangladesh don't play in Pakistan, says Misbah

KARACHI: Pakistan cricket team’s head coach, Misbah-ul-Haq, has emphasised that after successful Test series at home against Sri Lanka, there should be no excuses for other teams, including Bangladesh, to avoid touring Pakistan.

The former captain, who is also the chief selector of Pakistan team, said it would be disappointing if Bangladesh did not come to play the Test series and any such development would be an injustice to Pakistan cricket.

“It will be huge disappointment if Bangladesh doesn’t come to Pakistan to play Test cricket,” he said, adding that it is important for the country to play all home series at home grounds.

“There is no excuse not to visit Pakistan now, security is just a lame excuse, teams are now coming, even you’re agreeing to play T20Is then why are you reluctant to play Test cricket? It will be great injustice to Pakistan.

"If we don’t play our tests at home then we will be disadvantaged. We can’t deprive our players of cricket at home grounds,” Misbah added.

The head coach highlighted that the support one get by playing at home ground was unmatchable at any other venue and a team could not be deprived of such advantage.

“Home ground is obviously a major advantage. Abid Ali mad a debut, Babar Azam scored hundreds, Shan Masood scored hundred, Azhar Ali regained his form, it’s a good sign for all. The support you get at home is something you cannot get anywhere else.

"When a fast bowler is running up with crowd cheering for him, it automatically gives him energy to do well,” Misbah highlighted

He expressed his delight to see youngsters performing well in Karachi Test against Sri Lanka, helping Pakistan fight back to be on commanding seat in the match after conceding 80 runs lead to opponent in the first innings.

“It is great to see immediate results of your long term plans, specially in fast bowling, it is very pleasing to see our youngsters producing results. The way Nasim Shah and Shaheen Afridi have bowled was tremendous.

"I can say that Naseem is a star in making. Shaheen has improved a lot. Nasim is a good investment for long term,” Misbah said.

“Azhar was under pressure because he wasn’t scoring runs but it is good that he has regained his form and proved his value. It is good to see Azhar playing positive cricket according to team’s requirement to prove his mental strength,” he highlighted.

Misbah agreed that Yasir is struggling at the moment and his confidence is low but refused to discard the leg-spinner terming him a match winner.

“We keep identifying our mistakes, there’s always room for improvement and we must keep improving. Spin bowling is a worry but we hope that Yasir regains his form earliest. If we remain on track then we’ll be a better side,” Misbah said.

“You can’t discard a bowler like Yasir immediately, he has remained a match winner for us. He has played in South Africa and Australia in conditions where spinners usually struggle and that are why his confidence is low. One good performance will revive his confidence.

"We still believe in Yasir, he’s still our match winner and he can win matches for us in future,” the head coach emphasised.

He added that Fawad Alam would surely get his chance and whenever he’ll get a chance, the batsman will get a proper run.

“When we give a player a chance, we’ll give them a proper chance and proper run. Hopefully, Fawad Alam will soon get his chance,” he said.

“It is important to have first class experience, specially in bating department. Sometimes, you can gamble on inexperienced bowlers who are exceptional but overall first class experience surely comes in account in international cricket,” Misbah added.