Kolkata: Pakistan Test skipper Misbah-Ul Haq has said that he wants Pakistan to be the first Asian team to beat the Aussies in their own backyard, as per reports from The Express Tribune.
He highlighted the importance of implementing proper strategies in the game as was quoted as saying, “We are up for the challenge and, as I mentioned, I want Pakistan to be the first Asian side to win in Australia. That is the goal we have set as a team.”
Indeed it is a very difficult goal to achieve as neither of the Asian teams-India, Pakistan Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been able to achieve a series victory against the Aussies in Australia.However, they should fancy their chances of beating Australia as the latter has not enjoyed a good run in test matches off late.
The Australians were handed a whitewash in the Test series during their tour to Sri Lanka.Also, they were thrashed by 2-1 margin by South Africa when the Proteas had toured Australia some time back.
Misbah who is Pakistan’s most successful Test skipper feels that his team can learn from the South Africans and they have to be at their, ‘very best’ if they have to beat Australia in their own backyard.
The Express Tribune also states that the Pakistan Test skipper has said that Australia is an ,’exciting’ and ,’challenging’ side and it is difficult to beat them in their own soil.However he also had something to say on the ,’inexperience’ of the current Australian Test side and said ,”Although they have some new talented faces in the team, the inexperience is something that we can look to exploit. I don’t have any doubt in their abilities but their inexperience, especially in the batting department, can be exploited by the opposition as South Africa did in Hobart.”
He was also aware of the fact that this was the, ‘ inexperienced’ Australian side who beat South Africa in the third test of the series and saved them from getting whitewashed.Also, the momentum is with Australia as they recently whitewashed New Zealand in the ODI series.
Form wise, even the Pakistan team is struggling in the test format.They lost the last test against the West Indies(in which they had already won the series )and were completely outplayed by the Kiwis in the two match test series.About his teams’ poor run in Test cricket recently, he said,” Our team has produced wonderful performances in the last five years. We understand that we have not been at our very best in the last three Tests but I feel the team is determined to bounce back.”
Also, he said, “They(the team) are hurt by the recent series defeat in New Zealand. But we can look at it positively, as the side now feels more determined to show that we are one of the better Test sides in the world. Everyone is working hard and badly wants to get back to winning ways. There isn’t a better place than Australia to start winning.”
Misbah, who led Pakistan to their first ever Test victory while playing with the pink ball was also aware that the pink ball would swing more in Australia.He stated, “The pink ball swung more in our tour match in Cairns against Cricket Australia XI than it did in Dubai where we hosted West Indies for a day-night Test couple of months ago.”He also mentioned that this is a good sign for his bowlers.
To achieve this dream, both Pakistan and Misbah need to play out of their skins and encounter a lot of challenges.
(Misbah-ul Haq wrote for cricket.com.au)