Pakistan’s long-serving Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who will bid adieu to the game after the West Indies series, lamented that not leading his side against India in a Test series will remain one of his biggest regrets. India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series since 2007.
“What can one say? It is not in our hands but yes it is my regret that I couldn’t lead the team against India. Specially when our Test side was doing so well,” Misbah was quoted as saying by PTI. “I also see not winning the 2011 and 2015 World Cups as the unfulfilled ambitions of my career,” he added.
Misbah had earlier stated that it was politics that had put a stop to Indo-Pak bilateral ties, but hoped that he would get a chance to captain in a Test series against the arch-rivals,
“It didn’t happen all these last seven-eight years. Although I have played in India and I know their people want to see both teams play regularly against each other,” he said.
It was the Pakistan Cricket Board who first announced that the upcoming series against West Indies would be his last. Misbah felt that the timing of his decision came at the right time, “I have achieved a lot in my career that is why I decided to retire from T20 internationals in 2012 and then ODIs after the 2015 World Cup. And now I think after taking everything into count this is the best time for me to also retire from Test matches,” he said.
He insisted that the decision was entirely his and that PCB had not influenced him. After scaling to No.1 in the Test rankings, Pakistan slumped to five back-to-back defeats during their disastrous Australasian tour, “It is a personal decision and the Pakistan Cricket Board has nothing to do with it. I have been thinking about it for a while now,” he said.
The senior batsman hoped that cricketing ties would continue between India and Pakistan, “We became number one in Test rankings, they also achieved this pinnacle and that too without playing against each other. I just hope bilateral ties resume as soon as conditions improve,” he added.
Misbah revealed he had thought about retiring by the end of 2015 but the tours to England, New Zealand and Australia spurred him on to continue leading the side, “These were challenging tours and I knew that if I retired before them my critics would say I shied away from the tough battles and I also wanted to be with my team, a team that developed under my captaincy and achieve major success stories,” the veteran said.
The Pakistan captain, who turns 43 next month, reflected on his long career, observing that he had seen lot of ups and downs, “I made my Test and ODI debuts in 2002 but after 2003 I had to wait for four years before breaking back into the national side. It was a long wait but after that whatever I achieved was enough rewards for me,” Misbah added.
Misbah who has appeared in 72 Tests, 162 ODIs and 39 T20 matches for Pakistan, insisted that he will continue to make appearances in franchise cricket, “I will continue playing domestic cricket or T20 leagues,” he said.
