Date: Feb 21, 2014
Venue: Christchurch, New Zealand
‘We need to pick ourselves up and perform'
Transcript of Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq’s Post-Match Press Conference
Christchurch–February 21, 2015:
Q. I just wondered what was worse today, the batting, the bowling or the fielding?
Misbah-ul-Haq: Everything, I think. We just lost in all three departments. Couldn't bowl well, a lot of dropped catches, and batting, totally flopped.
Q. When the batsmen start like that, how hard is it to wrest the initiative back?
Misbah: Yeah, it's difficult. I mean, there is not a single department where we are not doing bad, I think. Today it was in all three departments. So we need to really come up the next eight, nine days, we really need to work hard. We need to pick up ourselves mentally. Skill-wise we need to really pick up ourselves and come hard in the next games, because now we have our damage.
Q. Towards the end of the inning when Andre Russell got the 42 or 43 out of 13 balls, do you think that psychologically took the game away from you all, because at the start of your innings, look what happened?
Misbah: Yeah, I think momentum shifted [with that]. Even from the start I think it was just happening at the pitch. There was a little bit moisture. I think we could not take enough wickets up-front. We just only took one or two wickets. We could have just done better than that. I think bowlers did well, but in the last seven or eight overs, I think they scored far too many runs and crossed 300, so that just shifted the momentum.
Q. With Haris bowling so much, and he hasn't bowled a lot coming in, what was the thought behind making him the fifth bowler in your lineup?
Misbah: Yeah, actually after Hafeez’ suspension and injury and Saeed Ajmal earlier on, and the kind of pitches we're playing on, batting is already not scoring much runs. It's difficult to go in with six batters and five proper bowlers. So that really is a tricky situation for us, and that's why I think we're going with seven batters. But at the moment nothing is working.
Q. What is going wrong? Are the players not of good quality or the coaches not imparting good coaching?
Misbah: I think it's totally up to the players. As the players have to execute the skills. At the end of the day as a bowler, as a fielder, as a batsman, you have to go there in the middle and perform. That's what we are not doing at the moment.
Q. We've had talk of a rift which was denied, and lots of things have been happening off the field. Does that affect you on the field?
Misbah: No, I don't think so. Nothing is happening. As a team, I mean in these conditions we are struggling. We are not just getting used to these pitches while we are batting, especially against the new ball. We are not handling it well, and that's it. I think there is nothing wrong in the team and nothing happening. It's not always that something is happening in the team and that's why we're not performing. We were completely undone by the conditions.
Q. I know these are all bunch of experienced international cricketers that you are leading. But what do you go and tell them at the end of a day like this? How are you going to talk to them and what are you going to tell them?
Misbah: I think the only way is just to forget this, learn from this, just to improve your performances. If you just got trapped in the previous two games, then you can't perform. Every game is a new game, and now we have to leave it behind and positively prepare for the next ones and try to win all other games. That is the only way. Otherwise if you just keep thinking about these two games, you could not really perform well.
Q. We played two matches and we lost two, where are we going [from here]? What is the strategy? What is the plan? Is there someone to blame – the team management, the players? You already mentioned that nobody's performing, so what is the reason behind it? So is there a big management issues now?
Misbah: No, I don't think so. There is no blame game. I think as a team, as players we need to pick ourselves up, and we need to just perform. That's the only way. You win games when the teams and the players perform, and that's how it is.
Courtesy ICC
