Misbah considers retirement ahead of final Sydney Test
melbourne — Captain Misbah-ulHaq said he was considering retirement after Pakistan’s shattering twosession capitulation to Australia in the second Test in Melbourne tMisbah’s tactics and fielding strategy were questioned during the Boxing Day Test and he scored just 11 and a duck in his two trips to the crease.
The 42-year-old veteran of 71 Tests from 2001 said he would decide in the coming days whether to call time on his career and indicated he was no guarantee to play the third Test, starting in Sydney on Tuesday. “I think I need to think about it,” Misbah said after the defeat. “I always believed that if I couldn’t contribute to the team then it’s no point staying there. I haven’t decided (about Sydney) but let’s see.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan have been fined for a slow over-rate in Melbourne, the ICC said on Friday. Match referee Ranjan Madugalle imposed the fine after Misbah-ulHaq’s side was ruled to be two overs short of its target when time allowances were taken into consideration. — KARACHI — Pakistan have overlooked in-form batsman Kamran Akmal and allrounder Mohammad Hafeez in a 15-man squad for the five-match ODI series in Australia, keeping faith in the same set of players who went down 2-0 in the Tests on Friday.
Akmal, 35, has been in superb form scoring 1035 runs in the
Squad:
azhar ali (captain), Sharjeel Khan, babar azam, Shoaib malik, asad Shafiq, Sarfraz ahmed, mohammad rizwan, Imad Wasim, Wahab riaz, mohammad Nawaz, Hasan ali, rahat ali, umar akmal, mohammad Irfan, mohammad amir four-day first class tournament and another 361 with two hundreds in the ongoing one-day cup. Selectors instead retained Test batsman Asad Shafiq, who hit an epic 137 in Pakistan’s narrow 39-run defeat in the first Test at Brisbane last week.
Hafeez was thought likely to return to one-day team after his bowling action was cleared following a 12-month ban, but his recent form was not considered good enough to earn a recall. — Printed and Published by Galadari Printing & Publishing (LLC), P.O. Box 11243, Dubai. Telephone: 3383535/ 3384545. Telefax: 3382238/ 3383676. email: sports@khaleejtimes.com Internet Home Page: www.khaleejtimes.com