ISLAMABAD: Former Test opener and chief selector Mohsin Khan reckons skipper Misbah-ul-Haq is fully fit and therefore he should continue playing till the away series in Australia scheduled for next year.

Mohsin, it seems, agrees to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan’s view that team need Misbah for some very important Test series in the near future.

Pakistan are scheduled to tour England for a four-Test series next summer. Later in 2016, Pakistan will be visiting Australia for a three-Test battle. The green-shirts’ high-profile series against India in December this year, however, doesn’t like to materialise, at least in the present circumstances.

“If a batsman scores a century in one innings then he is [regarded] a world-class batsman. But if the same batsman fails in the next few innings media starts criticising him,” Mohsin said while talking to a private news channel.

Presently, Mohsin underlined, Pakistan needed experienced pros like Misbah and Younis Khan in the cut-throat Test arena, arguing the duo forming the team’s backbone gave stability to a fragile-looking middle order.

“Playing [Tests] against England in England won’t be an easy task and [in these testing circumstances] batsmen like Misbah and Younis will provide much needed stability to our team,” he emphasised.

Speaking on Indo-Pak series, Mohsin said Shaharyar Khan on his recent visit to India had tried his level best to restore the contests, but regretted that the BCCI didn’t treat him properly.

Pakistan, in the wake of BCCI’s cold-shouldered response, should play India on level terms, insisted Mohsin.

“I would have built a lobby against India stating that it is not safe to hold the World Twenty20 there and would have asked the International Cricket Council (ICC) to change the venue of the event,” he said.

Meanwhile, former Test leg-spinner Abdul Qadir believes Misbah shouldn’t have retired from ODIs after the World Cup earlier this year, maintaining the 41-year-old Test leader is the team’s most dependable batsman and is fully capable of playing the shorter format too.

Misbah, who quit ODIs at the conclusion of Pakistan’s campaign in the World Cup quarter-final against Australia at Adelaide in March, has hinted about Test retirement after the ongoing match against England in Sharjah.

Qadir said Shaharyar had asked Misbah to extend his Test career, which the skipper could easily do as he is “fit like any young player”.

“I admire Shaharyar’s move to ask Misbah to continue playing. Misbah shouldn’t have also retired from ODIs as he was fit to play in the team and is dependable in both the versions,” Qadir stated.

Qadir, however, criticised the PCB for some of its other decisions, saying accountability of the board was the need of the hour.

The 67-Test veteran claimed there was no check and balance within the PCB and therefore the game of cricket had been suffering.

“Former cricketers should be inducted into the board who know where and why the game is lagging behind,” Qadir proposed.

Pakistan is currently eighth in ICC ODI rankings and fourth in Tests.

Qadir took exception to Subhan Ahmed serving as the PCB Chief Operating Officer “when he has no knowledge of the game”.

“Has the PCB taken stock of his performance in so many years of his tenure,” he said.

Qadir said an audit should also be conducted of the past 10 years seeing where the PCB money had been spent and whether it was needed or not.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2015

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