Former Pakistan cricketers demand changes in Team

Zimbabwe v Pakistan, 2nd Test, Harare

Former Pakistan cricketers demand changes

Misbah-ul-Haq and Pakistan's batting have come under severe criticism from the former players with the team's loss in the second Test against Zimbabwe being termed as "embarrassing and shameful". Pakistan dropped two places to sixth in the ICC Test rankings and became the first team other than Bangladesh to lose a Test against Zimbabwe in 12 years.

Ramiz Raja, who has been Misbah's vocal supporter, said his captaincy was bereft of fresh ideas. "Misbah contributed to a change of environment and gave stability to the team," he said. "He has given all he could to Pakistan cricket as captain but there is now a predictability and staleness in his captaincy and our brand of cricket."

"He seems to have ran out of ideas, so we need someone with fresh ideas," Raja said. "I think Misbah's shelf-life is over and with these ideas we will stand nowhere before South Africa (in UAE). It seems excitement and aggression is at the lowest point in our cricket, we want to avoid defeat and this hot-and-cold, up-and-down performances must change.

"No one likes to back a losing side, we need to rethink our priorities and set a new direction or else people will stop following cricket. This is the right time now to have a new captain and introduce some new players. The defeat is embarrassing, frustrating and shameful."

The month-long Zimbabwe tour was one of Pakistan's easier assignments this year and was thought of as preparation ahead of the upcoming tour against South Africa in the UAE. But Pakistan lost the first ODI and in Tests, crossed 300 just once in four innings.

Shoaib Akhtar said that Pakistan have "hit rock bottom as a cricketing nation" and they must address "the batting woes as they were letting the team down"."Misbah is leading the worst-ever Pakistan team," he said. "We don't have good bowlers, we don't have good batsmen and if Misbah is prominent amongst the batsmen then it shows because, with due respect, Misbah is not world class."

Inzamam-ul-Haq declined to comment on the team's performance as he has stopped watching them play.

However, the interim chairman of the PCB, Najam Sethi, took a more balanced view and said that the Pakistan team is in a rebuilding phase. "So what if we lost against Zimbabwe," Sethi said. "Winning and losing is part of the game and even Australia are down these days, so it's a pattern of ups and down. Pakistan had fallen in depths of disgrace over fixing issues, but things are stable now and they have started respecting us back.

"They talk about Misbah and Younis being an older player but Misbah is holding the team, Younis scored double hundred that day. I know where are the problems, if I am able to last longer in the PCB, I will work to make the team (better). But you can't do it at once." 

World class or not, ( As Shoib Akhter says) Misbah is the only standout batsman for Paksitan in the last two years. Had they not re considered Younis he would be retired and commentating like Shoib on one of these channels . There is a genuine lack of quality batsmen in Pakistan for a decade or so. Its not going to be resolved over night. Pakistan needs two aggressive batsmen and perhaps one of them is Umar Akmal. The other could be one of Haris Sohail, Ahmed Shehzad, Fawad Alam. Pakistan 's bowling also did not hit the mark and let Zimbabwe score far more than they should have. 

Guys, it is not fare to criticize Misbah and his leadership. He is defensive because he know if he gets out all other fall very cheaply. Dont u guys remember the Pak v W.I match which was cut short to rain and they need to score quickly in order to win and who did it. It was Misbah. I mean what do u expect when score card is saying like 20-3 in a test or one day match. He just makes sure team plays full fifty overs in one day and bat as long as possible in tests. The problem with him is he cannot promote himself to no. 3. because then there is no one to rebuild after cluster of wickets are gone. The main problem is that all the other batsmen have lots of technical flaws against seaming ball no matter what pace. Asad is a class player and he should be played regularly in one days and in tests also. These are the guys the team managment should make them work hard on physical and mental fitness. I only criticize Misbah for not winning any toss whatsoever.