LAHORE – Head Coach and Chief Selector of the national cricket teamMisbah-ul-Haq Monday said that form, fitness and performance were thecriterion for selection for senior players and doors were open for all tomake a case for selection.
Addressing post match press conference after the 3rd T20I was abandoned dueto rain at the Gaddafi stadium here, he said, “I had never said that it wascurtains for the seniors like Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez,” adding,“After losses against Sri Lanka and Australia we realized that the teamneeded senior players and the idea was backed by the captain Babar Azam.”
To a query, the Head Coach said there was no evil in selecting seniorplayers if they were useful for the team.
About the series win, Misbah-ul-Haq said the series victory againstBangladesh was a confidence booster which would help the team and themanagement to concentrate on the future course of action, adding that thepressure of continuous defeats did not let teams draw up plans and effectedperformance adversely.
He said victory meant a lot to him after losing two T20I series and poorrun in the format while he praised the young Pakistan bowlers forcontaining Bangladesh batsmen, adding that it was good for Pakistan cricket.
About grooming young players for T20 World Cup (WC), he said there was alot of time for the preparation of WC, adding the PSL5 and some morecricket was ahead which would provide enough preparation to the team.
On the question of finding power-hitters in the team for T20 cricket, thehead coach said PSL was great importance to find players who could playleg-spinners and mystery spinners well in the Australian conditions duringthe upcoming T20 World Cup 2020, adding that Pakistan players had notplayed some spinners well during the ICC Cricket World Cup in England lastyear while two spinners were being used by teams in Australia recently.
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About team combination in the T20 WC, Misbah said a pool of good performersfrom the PSL5 would be invited at a camp after April 24 as the team had nointernational cricket during the months of May and June 2020, adding thatthe players would be picked among them who would have an opportunity tomake their mark in the Asia Cup before the T20 WC.
He said Asif Ali was a power-hitter but he was dropped from the team afterpoor form, adding that the best eleven would be selected for the T20 WC2020.
Misbah-ul-Haq, to a query, said the Pakistan team had decided to check itsbench strength and play all players including Usman Qadir, Ammad Butt,Khushdil Shah and Mohammad Musa in the last T20I against Bangladesh but theweather did not allow them the chance.
To a question, Head Coach and Chief selector said his role as Head coach ofthe Islamabad United would provide him a better opportunity to watchperformances of all players of the opposing teams closely and it would helpPakistan cricket.
