Head coach of the national cricket team Misbah-ul-Haq on Monday said that amid the isolation in New Zealand due to coronavirus SOPs the team could not do any practice and spent around 19 days in their rooms which was the main cause for their not-so-good performance, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing a news conference in Lahore, Misbah said the players were affected by coronavirus and there was a worry about how to move forward in that situation. 

Blaming the coronavirus, Misbah said, “The fitness and fielding sector was affected due to pandemic and Fakhar Zaman could not join the team.”

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“Losing the series to New Zealand was disappointing. I did not come to justify losing the Test and T20s series. The Pakistan team gave their 100 percent in terms of resources and time. And no matter how hard we try, cricket is a game of luck. There are a lot of things that made us lose the series,” he explained while shedding light on the reasons why the Pakistan side lost the series against Kiwis. 

He said the New Zealand team is the strongest team in the world and the performances of the teams in world cricket are going up and down. The Pakistan side is also trying to find a way out on how to improve the team performance.

Misbah said, “We did not give up, we have to accept that the New Zealand team was better than us, Babar Azam's injury was the biggest loss. We need further improvement.”

The head coach said that the batting performance of the Pakistan team was better despite all odds. 

“I do not know what to ask in the cricket committee meeting, the report will be presented in the cricket committee meeting. Fawad Alam, Faheem Ashraf and Muhammad Rizwan's performances were good,” he further said.

PCB meeting

On the other hand, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to remove Misbah-ul-Haq as head coach while offering interim coach head to former skipper Younis Khan for the upcoming tour to South Africa. Reportedly, Younis Khan did not yet respond in positively to the PCB offer.

The TV channel reported that the final decision about the future of Misbah will be taken in Tuesday (tomorrow) hearing in which the Pakistan Men’s XI head coach will appear before the Cricket Committee.

In another report, the PCB has denied suggestions that Misbah is being replaced.