Expressing 'disappointment' over defeat in the two T20 matches against Sri Lanka, Chief Selector and Head Coach Misbah-ul-Haq cited deficiencies in all departments of the Pakistan T20I squad, but defended the decision to bring back Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal. "There was a clear difference between the two teams; despite being inexperienced, they (Sri Lankan) were disciplined and did everything right, while we completely failed to implement our plan," Misbah said while talking to media.

Misbah said, "Losing is never good, especially against a team that is without their major players, and it's an eye-opener; we can see deficiency in every department: bowling, batting and particularly the way we got out against spin, and also our death bowling." Head Coach said, "Obviously I am answerable but to build up a team, you need to do some experiments to get the answers. We need to show some patience and wait for next series to find answers."

He said, "We are the No. 1 team in the world but mostly our strength has been standing on Babar Azam scoring runs and with him not scoring in two games, we are exposed badly; we need to find out six or more match-winners, we need to have more dependable batsmen, we need powerhouses in the top and middle, and in bowling we need to take wickets upfront and in the death overs and we need to have good finishers."

Defending the recalls of Shehzad and Umar, chief selector said, "Both these players have performed well wherever they've played in the last one year. Ahmed's performance in PSL was remarkable enough for a chance, while Umar, whichever format he played, was among the good ones [batsmen]."

"If they weren't able to perform what can be done," he said, adding: "Only those who would perform would stay in the team. He said that Shadab Khan is out of the form while we need match winning bowlers and good batsmen.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019