Misbah announces retirement from international cricket

LAHORE: Pakistan Test team skipper Misbahul Haq has confirmed that upcoming Test series in the West Indies will bring curtains down on his international cricket career.

The team captain rejected an impression that he made a retirement announcement under any pressure.

Speaking to media here, Misbah said he had planned earlier that West Indies series was important to bring confidence back to the team because the team performance had not been up-to-the-mark of late. He admitted that team didn’t do well up to its talent in recent Test matches.

When we are losing six Test matches in a row, there must be some reason behind this failure, he underlined.

The skipper, however, said he would continue playing domestic cricket for some time.

Misbah said winning World Cup 2015 was his dream that couldn’t be fulfilled.

“I felt disappointed with some bad performances recently, but we shouldn’t giving up hope and efforts towards the good.”

To a question, Misbah said he had not yet planned whether he would be joining the cricket board in future.

He recalled that the best time of his career was when the Pakistan team became number one in the Test rankings.

Misbah said Sarfraz Ahmed was now a captain of two formats — ODI and T20s — hence everyone should now support and back him, he added.

“I hope to end my career on a good note,” wishes the 42-year-old skipper.

In December 2016, Misbah became the first Pakistani cricketer to have won the ICC Spirit of the Year award.

The ICC statement said the 42-year-old was adjudged the winner for inspiring Pakistani players to play the game in its true spirit, at the same time lifting the Pakistan cricket team from number-four to number-one on the ICC Test Team Rankings.

Remarkably, this was achieved without playing any Test matches in his home country, it added.

Misbah is the first Pakistani player to win the award with the previous winners being MS Dhoni (2011), Daniel Vettori (2012), Mahela Jayawardena (2013), Katherine Brunt (2014) and Brendon McCullum (2015), said ICC.