Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has urged the team to step up and not depend only on Babar Azam to get the runs after their harrowing T20I series defeat to Sri Lanka at home. Pakistan lost the first two games, by 64 and 35 runs respectively, as the islanders took an unassailable lead in the three-match series in Lahore.
“We became number one in T20Is but if you dig deeper, our only strength was Babar Azam’s runs and he didn’t score in two games and we’ve been exposed.
“I think we need to find six match-winners, not one,” Misbah was quoted as saying by cricketpakistan.com.pk.
“Until you don’t have that powerhouse in the middle-order and a powerhouse at the top-order for the powerplay, you can’t do well. Similarly in the bowling powerplay if you can’t get wickets and then in the death overs you can’t finish well, you struggle and I think we have failed in all departments.”
“It’s an eye opener. We need to look at these things. If we were doing well, we couldn’t do that here. Our strong points didn’t deliver. We need to find other players, how long can you rely on one or two batsmen?” he added.
The head coach accepted responsibility for the twin defeats and said he needed to find solutions to the problems hampering the side.
“You are seeing problems with the team and I am also seeing them. We need to resolve these. It’s not something that can be fixed overnight. It takes some time to fix these things,” he said. “Obviously I am answerable but to make a team, you need some time and to do that, you do some experiments. Only then do you get the answers to your questions. A lot of things are in front of us and we need to find solutions.”
The third T20I will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday.
