Following Pakistan’s narrow six-run defeat to India in the T20 World Cup on Sunday, former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq criticized the Pakistan team management. Although bowling efforts performed well as limiting India to only 119 runs. Pakistani batting line up could not capitalize hence endangering their chances of moving forward in the tournament.
Misbah observed some mistakes in the process of Pakistan chasing against India which include underrating Iftikhar Ahmed. Who came at number seven while being a single specialist batsman among middle order.
“Middle order par confidence nahi hai. Seedhi si baat hai. Hum unko jis tarike se utilize karte hai, Iftikhar hai or jo bhi khelta hai middle order me. Hum jab unke number jis tarah se hai, run-a-ball bhi hai toh hum unko nahi bhejte. Saal me unki baari aati hai do, woh bhi aisi situation mein pariyaan dete hai ki. Aapne agar middle order ki batsmen khilaya hai toh bhai uska jo number hai usme aap kyun nahi bhej rahe usko,” Misbah said on Hum Sport.
Furthermore, this former cricket captain questioned why all-rounders were being sent before Iftikhar Ahmed on a difficult. New York pitch highlighting that it is important during such surfaces when there is less power hitting.
“Simple si baat hai, Iftikhar agar khel raha hai, batsman woh hena. Imad [Wasim] ussey pahle gaya, uske baad Shadab [Khan] ussey pahle gaya and he was the last. Aap unko 7th number par bhej rahe hai, aur yeh throughout chal raha hai. Aisi pitch par jahaan aapko pata hai power hitting ki jarurat nahi hai. Situation ko assess karne ki jarurat hai,” Misbah added.
Misbah also pointed out that Pakistan batsmen could not take lessons from India’s own innings where they struggled to score runs.
“Aapne pahle innings dekh li India ki,once you have to score over run-a-ball aakhri 10 overs me woh bada mushkil hai. Humne isko 6 ya under 6 rakhna hai, iske uper le jaake, chahe unke paas jitne bhi damage karne wale batsmen ho – Hardik Pandya, jeetne bhi aaye [Shivam] Dube, unse nahi huwe hai runs. Hit nahi lag rahi thi. Toh hume ye sochna chahiye tha ki Iftikhar ko bacha ke rakhne ka kya faida. End me toh aapse hit nahi lagegi.Jahaan 6 ya 7 nahi ho raha, toh ek dafa 9-10 me le jayenge toh woh kya karega. Agar aapne bhejna hi tha, okay fine Shadab ko run-a-ball tha, pichle match me usne perform kiya huwa hai toh usko uper bhejte phir. Uske baad Iftikhar aata,” Misbah said.
He further questioned the decision to send Imad Wasim ahead of Iftikhar and criticized the team for playing fewer batters on a bowling-friendly pitch.
“Those are going to be sent by Imad, okay go play now. This is not a pitch where one can score at the end. He sent it to left hander and he played the entire over for left-hander dot. In short, you are putting pressure on them and they are not giving confidence to your batsman. Then it’s simple that your playing with three specialist batsmen in bowling pitch. They have even played two all-rounders out of 6 batsmen India is playing with. So it will be a matter of who will be under pressure on difficult pitches for batting – the batting itself? On the contrary, we lack resources for batting,” Misbah said.
The former captain’s critique underscores the need for better tactical decisions and confidence in the batting order to optimize performance in crucial matches.
