Pak not getting any ICC event till 2023 disappoints Misbah

Karachi: Disappointed with the ICC`s decision to not award any major event to Pakistan till 2023, national captain Misbah-ul-Haq blamed his team`s recent slide on the lack of international cricket in the strife-torn country.

"There is no doubt this team has suffered a lot because of no international cricket being played in Pakistan and to learn now that there are no international events until 2023 is very disappointing news for me," he said. Pakistan has not hosted any international cricket since the 2009 Lahore terror attack on the Sri Lankan team. The nation did not get any major event to host in the schedule finalised during the ICC Annual Conference in London last week. The team came a cropper at the recent Champions trophy in England but a defiant Misbah said his players cannot be written off after a couple of bad tournaments. The experienced batsman returned to Lahore from London late last night and told the media contingent at the airport that necessary changes would be made in the team for the West Indies tour. "No player individually or collectively likes to fail. No one gets out cheaply on purpose. Everyone wants to do well but in sports they are ups and downs and we need to learn to come to grip with these things," he said. "It is not unusual for us to hear critical statements and we can take criticism if we have performed badly. But I would say don`t write off these players they are the same players who have performed well in the past," he added. Misbah, who is expected to be retained as captain for the West Indies tour, will meet the national selectors today to finalise the touring squad. "The reality is that the batting didn`t deliver as expected in England and we flopped because of it. There is no doubt the batsmen need to quickly learn from their mistakes and attempt to pick up their performances in the future," he said. "We will be planning differently for the future and where necessary we will induct new players and this time they will be given proper chances to prove themselves," he added. PTI