There is no rift within the team – emphasises Misbah-ul-Haq

Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain, has once again denied the reports of his alleged rift with Mohammad Hafeez and maintains that the whole team is united. The cricketer from Mianwali also indicated that only the players who perform well in the on-going President’s One-Day Tournament 2012-13 will find a place in the squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2012, scheduled to be played in England in June.

The former Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has expressed recently that Dav Whatmore and Hafeez are conspiring against Misbah.

However, Misbah and the T20 skipper, Hafeez, jointly addressed a press conference in Lahore yesterday and made it clear that they are sharing a very friendly relation with each other. Both of them represent the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) in the domestic cricket of Pakistan.

The 38-year-old cricketer said that Butt has not been in the board for almost a year and a half now and he is in no position to make a judgement about the team. The skipper feels that every team has to face such issues after a poor performance and admitted that the Green Shirts were outplayed by South Africa in the recently-concluded tour.

“It is fascinating that somebody so far away from the team can make assessments about the team. If there was something going on the players in the team would have found out first. I think such remarks by someone so far away from the team will never be correct,” said Misbah. “I have said this before – when a team loses there is not always some negative reason behind it. Sometimes the other team just plays really good cricket.”

The middle-order batsman further added that the team management and selectors are closely monitoring the performances of players in domestic cricket.

“The selectors saw the T20 tournament and the on-going [domestic] One Day Tournament. The Champions Trophy is also a one-day tournament, so a clearer picture will be presented about the bowlers’ form and fitness after this competition and it will be easy to pick the team,” he added.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=39831

Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Apr 10 2013. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.