Pakistan’s ODI and Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, on Friday admitted that the forthcoming Test series against South Africa will be the biggest Test of his captaincy. However, he was confident that his side was capable of toppling the World No. 1 ranked Proteas.
"The coming series in South Africa is the biggest challenge of my career. But I am confident that we can topple South Africa in the Test series," Misbah told media reporters after his team, Sui Northern Gas, won the President's Trophy final at the national stadium today.
Taking heart from his side’s historic 3-0 series win against England early last year, Misbah said that even at that time his side was not rated highly. However, he agreed that a lot will depend on his batsmen when playing against the star-studded South African line up next month.
"People didn't rate us highly even when we played England last year in the UAE. But we surprised everyone," said the experienced middle-order batsman.
"We have the ability to beat South Africa. But the batsmen will have to stand up and deliver. I know we have two or three batsmen who can stay at the wicket even in the different conditions in South Africa," added Misbah, who has also failed to deliver with the bat of late.
Asked about the secret of Pakistan’s success over the past couple of years, the 38-year-old skipper said that the team spirit and unity have been the mantra of their success since the infamous spot fixing saga in September 2010.
This will be Pakistan’s first trip to South Africa since 2007. Misbah conceded that playing in the South African conditions would be even more challenging as they have been playing mostly in the sub-continent or the United Arab Emirates in the last three years.
"After playing in England in 2010 we only went to New Zealand. Apart from that we have played in the UAE or South Asia. So it is an incentive for us to prove ourselves in South Africa as well," he insisted.
Pakistan team is scheduled to play three Tests, two T20 Internationals and five One Day Internationals against the Proteas during their almost eight-week tour, which gets underway at Johannesburg on February 01 and ends in Benoni on March 24. The 16-member Pakistan squad will leave for South Africa on Sunday, January 20, 2012.
0 comments:
Post a Comment