KARACHI : Pakistan’s captain Misbah-ul-Haq has said his decision to hang up his boots from one-day international cricket after the World Cup is final and will not change
“I had decided to retire from ODIs after the World Cup after giving it much thought and it was the right time to take the decision,” he told in a telephonic interview from Adelaide.
“I had decided that regardless of how I perform in the World Cup and the results I will go and I have no intentions to change that decision. It is the right time to retire from ODIs,” he said.
Misbah, to a question, also stated candidly that he would prefer to see the PCB give the captaincy to a young player for ODIs.
“We should be looking for a younger guy as Pakistan need to move on and give someone responsibility for a long time,” he added.
Misbah, 40, has said he will continue to captain the Test side after the 50-over showpiece event.
He also dismissed talk about some of the Pakistani players taking their places in the side for granted thus leading to a gradual decline in batting performances.
“I don’t think so, this is the best team we have these are the best performers we have that is why we are persisting with these guys. Obviously you could say that their performances not lived up to our expectation but I think these are the best in terms of skills and that is why they are in the team,” he stated.
Misbah also made it clear that he had never lost hope of his team reaching the knockout stage even after losing the first two matches of the World Cup.
“No that feeling never entered my mind. Simply because I am a fighter and I have never given up in life even when I was in and out of the Pakistan team. So how can I give up hope in my last tournament and in this format.”
Misbah said Pakistan remained a dangerous side even against Australia in the quarter-final on Friday in Adelaide as the will to win was very high among the players and in himself.
“We know how important this tournament is for the Pakistani people and it is no secret this team has this ability to just turnaround things from really worst to top. And that is why we did it I think our belief worked for us and I know after the first two games we needed one good game and we could turn it around and that is what happened. We just had the win and then we had four on the go,” he added. (AGENCIES)
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