Banking on young talent, Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq hoped for better results in 2020 and indicated that a few seniors may not return to the national side.
Misbah hailed the emergence of batsman Babar Azam and the pace duo of Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi in 2019, a year he termed as “tough” for Pakistan in Test cricket.
“Going further we have to improve a lot of things in both red-ball and white-ball cricket. This team has enough potential and the new boys are also making their way into international cricket. There’s certainly a bright future ahead for us,” Misbah said.
The coach was lavish in his praise of Babar. “Babar’s emergence as a mega star across formats is very good news for Pakistan cricket. He remained No. 1 in T20Is and is in the top-10 in ODIs.
“He played some brilliant innings in the World Cup and ended the year by establishing himself as a Test batsman with scintillating performances in Australia and two centuries against Sri Lanka in Pakistan.”
Misbah was also delighted at Naseem and Afridi’s impressive start to the five-day format. “Naseem got a five-for in the last Test against Sri Lanka. Shaheen bowled well in the World Cup, showed glimpses of being a Test bowler in South Africa, bowled really well in Australia and also in Pakistan against Sri Lanka. We will, hopefully, bank on these two promising fast bowlers in the future.
“Overall, we are on the right track. The more we play the longer format, the more we will improve. We need to do a lot of work in white-ball cricket ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia,” said Misbah.
The coach did not name anyone, but his comments indicated that it was the end of the road for Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik.
