'Unfair to put entire blame on Misbah' - Rashid Latif on Pakistan's poor outings in England ODIs

Pakistan's poor outing in the ODI series against a second-string England team saw head coach, Misbah-ul-Haq subjected to severe criticism. Some went to an extent and suggested the sacking of the former national captain from his current position of head coach. However, during a recent interaction, ex-cricketer Rashid Latif, while accepting that it is possible to take such a step, said that sacking Misbah right before the T20 World Cup could backfire.

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Latif further made the point that one shouldn’t simply blame the coach for Pakistan's poor performance and reckoned that selectors and players should be equally blamed. Latif further said that former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed should be batting at no.6 in the ODI team.

“We have made some mistakes. I personally think Sarfaraz Ahmed should have been playing at number six in the ODIs. I don’t think we have a lot of time . We made a lot of mistakes, and we shouldn’t just blame Misbah for them. You can't just put all the blame on his shoulders alone. The selection committee made some mistakes and so did Babar Azam,” Latif was quoted by Cricket Pakistan.

The former wicketkeeper batter also said that even if the coaches are changed (Waqar Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq), the players will remain the same. Latif is of the opinion that if there is someone who can completely change the approach or style of playing and can do away with some players by bringing new talent, then it will be wise to change the coach. However, the former skipper feels that sort of leaders are not there in Pakistan.

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“If you talk about captains such as Wasim Akram or Imran Khan, they produced great batsmen if you look at history. We didn’t produce batsmen under Misbah. Even now, under Babar Azam no batsmen have been produced. We must think about our mistakes. We can't produce good batsmen,” he concluded.