LAHORE: Vowing to remain fit and keep giving his best show for the team, Pakistan’s Test and ODI skipper Misbah-ul-Haq on Wednesday said he never thought about national captaincy which he reiterated was PCB’s domain.

To a question regarding all-rounder Shahid Afridi’s desire, which he expressed recently, to lead the national team, Misbah said: “I have always said that it is not in our control, it is in PCB’s hands to appoint the [national] captain. What I can do is to

keep myself fit and to give my best performance for the team. The rest is not in our control and I never think about the captaincy.”

‘Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali can be groomed for leadership’

Misbah said this after attending the morning session of the month-long conditioning camp here at the Gaddafi Stadium. The camp concludes on Thursday.

Last week, Afridi during the same camp had expressed the desire for national captaincy, triggering a debate in cricketing circles as to whether there was going to be a change in guard. Surprisingly, there was no specific official reaction from the PCB on the all-rounder’s statement.

Meanwhile, responding to a question on who was being groomed by him as the next Pakistan captain, Misbah while spotting youngsters Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal whom the national skipper believed had the ability to lead, stressed that the PCB and the team management should hand the mantle to a young leader at the right time.

“There are several players who could be given the captaincy, Azhar Ali is doing captaincy, Umar Akmal is doing captaincy [at domestic level],” said Misbah when queried about potential candidates to replace him in future.

“I think when they get some experience and automatically when the time comes on them you can give them this responsibility, this is important that the PCB or the team management give confidence to whichever player they want to be groomed [as captain],” he added.

“All the youngsters do understand the game and are doing the hard work and performing and they have cricketing sense and that’s what you need in the future [for a captain],” he insisted, adding a new captain could take two years time to become a leader.

Asked what inspiration kept him fit even at the age of 40, Misbah said: “Motivation behind it is the passion for the game; if you have no passion you can’t enjoy the game, and if you have passion you always want to compete with others.

“And good news is that all the players, including many seniors, who are attending this camp, have demonstrated excellent fitness.”

The captain emphasised live-in-the-present-moment approach when asked for how long he could continue to play, when seasoned campaigner Younis Khan, 36, said recently he could feature in the game for the next ten years.

“I have been focusing on series-to-series or event-to-event basis. Though planning [for the future] is important, the most significant thing is to prepare yourself for current challenges,” he underlined.

It may be mentioned that according to reports coming out through media, both Misbah and Younis had been declared fittest players of the camp, being attended by around 40 cricketers.

Commenting on Waqar Younis, the recently appointed national team head coach who starts his work next month, Misbah lauded the contributions made by the fast bowling icon as Pakistan coach in the past.

“Waqar is a very good addition [to the coaching staff]. During his last tenure as national coach, he delivered a lot for the team besides polishing young batsmen Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq.”

Hailing the PCB decision of holding a long-duration fitness camp for national cricketers, Misbah said it would help the participants bring significant improvement in all departments of the game.

Though the cricketers’ individual plans were missed due to the camp as it was held during off season, the captain believed every cricketer had attained excellent fitness at the camp.

When asked whether the players would be able to maintain the physical fitness level they developed during the month-long conditioning camp, with the Sri Lanka series still around two months away, Misbah said: “The coaches will hand over the players a specific training programme to continue [the fitness exercises] on their own.

“Several among these players are going to participate in forthcoming Ramazan cricket events; furthermore, a two-week national camp will be held before we leave for Sri Lanka. Therefore, hopefully, the [two-month] gap will not lower the players’ new fitness level.”

The skipper said though the cricketers had not received their central contract as yet, it was a good sign that the PCB had decided to consider the players’ performance and fitness level in deciding on the category of their contract.

On the good news paceman Mohammad Irfan had regained physical fitness, Misbah regarded that the lanky bowler was crucial to Pakistan.

“Irfan is a different kind of bowler, he is a match-winner, a true lethal weapon and his devastating burst in first four or five overs can tilt the match in Pakistan’s favour. His presence is definitely going to be a plus point for us [in the contests ahead],” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2014