PCB keeps Misbahul Haq, Mohammad Hafeez at charge

Monitoring Desk

LAHORE, Pakistan (TheSportNEXT) October 26, 2012: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to retain Misbahul Haq for Tests and One Day Internationals and Mohammad Hafeez for Twenty20 Internationals as captain, PressTrustofIndia reported Friday.

Quoting a PCB official, the PTI reported that PCB chief is satisfied with performance of both the captains. “There are no plans to make any changes in the team management and the same set up will continue for the tours to India and South Africa starting from December," the official added.

The official further stated, “The chairman had long discussions with Mohammad Hafeez and coach Dav Whatmore and he feels that with Hafeez doing a good job in gelling the team there is no reason to immediately search for a new captain for the Test and ODI teams”.

Misbahul Haq, who is 38 now, is taking an active part in the Presidents Trophy first-class tournament representing Sui Southern Gas Company but has failed to score big runs as he slumped to a pair in his first match and so far has scored 102 runs at a meager average of 17 runs per innings.

However, the veteran middle-order batsman is confident that runs will soon follow his bat. He told reporters, “It happens and I can sense the runs are around the corner already in the last match I stayed at the crease for a while and the confidence is returning. I am sure the runs will come when the tournament starts after Eid break as lot of matches remain in the season”.

It is important to mention here that both Misbahul Haq and Mohammad Hafeez represent the same team in the domestic cricket tournaments.

When asked about the PCB’s latest decision for using Kookaburra balls in domestic cricket matches, Misbahul Haq appreciated the initiative saying it would help local cricketers to get in terms of the international level.

“I feel the decision of using Kookaburra balls will at least help in decreasing the gap between domestic and international cricket. Both bowlers and batsmen will get a fair idea of how the ball behaves”, he added.