KARACHI, (Reuters) – Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq has urged critics not to press the panic button amid calls for him to stand down as captain in the wake of one-day international and Twenty20 series defeats to England.
Pakistan whitewashed England 3-0 in their test series but lost 4-0 in the ODIs and 2-1 in the Twenty20 series in the UAE. “I am surprised that some people are now talking about changes in the team and questioning my captaincy after just one bad series,” Misbah told reporters after returning to his hometown Lahore.
“I don’t think we need to press any panic button and I have no issues continuing as captain for all three formats.”
Some former players and sections of the media had been critical of the defeats and called for Misbah to only focus on test cricket.
Misbah said captaincy and selection issues were the cricket board’s concerns.
“But my mind is clear, we had a bad series but this team can bounce back strongly and we just need to work on our weak areas like our batting,” he added. “Let’s not forget this same team has been winning for the last one year against every team. One bad performance should not mean we make too many changes in the team.“England played better than us in the limited over games and their bowlers hit back hard after the test defeats. The batting struggled on both sides throughout the series as the pitches were not that easy for batting,” he added.
The Pakistan Cricket Board is expected to announce the appointment of Australian Dav Whatmore as head coach of the team this week ahead of the Asia Cup beginning in Bangladesh in March.
“If he comes he can do a lot for our team as well,” Misbah added.
