Former Pakistan captain, Misbah-ul-Haq relinquished his post as head coach of the national side after the team’s poor performance in New Zealand and cited spending “considerable time away from my family in a bio-secure environment” as a reason behind the call.
Recently, the former head coach said that the PCB Chairman, Ramiz Raja, was not interested in working with him, and bowling coach, Waqar Younis, which is why they left the coaching setup.
While speaking with Voice of America (VOA), Misbah said “See, we were a part of previous management who brought us with a vision and we worked together. Ramiz Raja came up with his own vision. He didn’t want to work with us so we thought to resign.”
Misbah, who remained head coach for nearly two years, further said that the newly appointed PCB Chairman at that time knew the shortcomings in the setup and no one could address those issues better than Ramiz as he is an experienced person.
“I think Ramiz Bhai knows the problems of cricketers. He understands Pakistan cricket being a part of it for so many years. Who can do a better job than him at PCB’s office. From pitches to financial aspects of players, Ramiz Bhai knows everything so well and he can take things forward. Also, he has done commentary for many years, so it is helpful for him to build relations with other countries.”
Misbah, who represented Pakistan in 75 Test matches, further added that Ramiz had announced to install drop-in pitches in Pakistan but so far, there is no development on the matter. “Pakistani pitches have remained the same over the years. I believe the weather is quite influential on the pitches here. But, it is not something new,” he stressed.
While answering a question regarding the wicket in Rawalpindi that received one demerit point from ICC, he said that the surface usually supports pacers or batters and that it can not be made a spin-friendly track in a short time.
“Pindi Stadium’s wicket can be made either pacy or batting-friendly. You can’t make a spin-friendly wicket there. In Karachi, I was expecting a result but Australia played very well to outclass Pakistan in the first innings. Though Pakistan made a comeback in the fourth innings, Australia was brilliant throughout”.
“Home teams make pitches favorable to their strength, every country does that,” Misbah concluded.
