KARACHI: Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan skipper who is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, admitted he would be fit to lead the country at the next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Misbah, who made a brief visit to the city to attend a ceremony in which he was awarded special prize for his outstanding batting in the Test series against Australia and New Zealand, said that he was optimistic of regaining complete fitness in two weeks after suffering the injury during game two of the recent one-day series against New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates.

“At the moment I’m taking precautionary measure by only doing some light jogging on medical advice. But hopefully I would be fully fit in about a couple of weeks,” Misbah said while talking to Dawn. “I’m raring to get back on the field much before the World Cup.”

In Misbah’s absence all-rounder Shahid Afridi led Pakistan in the remaining three One-day Internationals in the series that the Black Caps won 3-2.

Misbah hoped that despite losing the last three one-day series against Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand, Pakistan will head into the World Cup, beginning from Feb 14, in a positive frame of mind.

“Undoubtedly it is the biggest tournament for any cricketer. I played in the 2011 World Cup in which Pakistan reached the semi-finals against heavy odds. Then many experts had written us off before the competition started,” he recalled. “This time also it would be a totally different challenge for us in unfamiliar conditions of Australia and New Zealand where all teams will be aiming for glory.”

‘Ajmal, Hafeez key to our prospects’

Now in the twilight of his career, Misbah pledged that he would want Pakistan to be as competitive as possible.

“It [World Cup] is never an easy event. There is always tremendous pressure on every player and the expectations of the people supporting their country are very high,” he stressed. “But we will be giving out best when the tournament begins because all matches are important.

“I just pray that we will be able to sort out problems afflicting our team at the moment. I’m pretty optimistic that both Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez will have bowling actions cleared. They are the key to our prospects in the World Cup.”

When asked to comment on his record-equalling 56-ball century against Australia during the second Test at Abu Dhabi, Misbah was modest in saying that he never aspire to aim for the record previously held by legendary West Indies batsman Viv Richards.

“Honestly that record was never on my mind when I went to bat. I was simply happy to better Jacques Kallis’s [24-ball] record of scoring the fastest 50. I was trying to hit every ball because we wanted to declare our [second] innings early to put more pressure on Australia,” Misbah recalled. “But when I realized that Azhar [Ali] was also close to his century, I speeded up and eventually got there. It was simply sensational to be bracketed with a legend like Richards. I’m nowhere near him but I’ll never forget what I had achieved for the rest of my life.”

Misbah also played down being rated as Pakistan’s most successful Test captain after sealing a 15th win against New Zealand to better the record jointly held by Imran Khan and Javed Miandad.

“There is no comparison with such great people like Imran and Miandad. They were better than me in every sense and always will be. I’m simply happy to have done my bits for Pakistan. Winning gives you nice feeling and I’m satisfied to have contributed my share in those wins,” he said in a modest tone. “It was just not me but the entire team that helped Pakistan win. Every individual contributed and I was happy to be their captain.”

The Pakistan captain also heaped praise on Sarfraz Ahmed for his daring batting and pointed that the wicket-keeper/batsman gave Pakistan momentum.

“Sarfraz was brilliant whenever he batted. His daring approach was refreshing for the team. If a team has a game-changer like him it makes the task easier for the rest of the batsmen. I also had issues with the mental block during the early part of my career. But when I changed my attitude it worked. Sarfraz has done the same and look how much he has improved as a batsman,” Misbah said.

Published in Dawn December 24th , 2014