Ian Chappell terms Misbah-ul-Haq ‘horrible’ after Pakistan’s series loss in Australia

Ian Chappell, the former Australian cricketer, has slammed Misbah-ul-Haq, the coach-cum selector of the Pakistan cricket team. The harsh words came out after Pakistan returned winless from their tour of Australia. To start with, Babar Azam and Co lost the T20I series 2-0 with one game being washed off due to rain. Even the marred-game was going in the home team’s favour.

Thereafter, Azhar Ali’s Pakistan lost the two-match Test series by 2-0. Chappell came down hard on Misbah, who was the skipper when Pakistan toured Down Under in 2016-17. Back then, Pakistan lost the Day-Night Brisbane Test by 39 runs and then slumped to defeat by an innings and 18 runs at the iconic MCG. Chappell said that Misbah was ‘horrible’ and it didn’t change much this time.

Chappell comes down hard on Misbah-ul-Haq

“Pakistan have got no idea how to captain in Australia. Misbah was horrible last time he came here, now he’s the coach and from talking to some people they think he was orchestrating things off the field on this tour. Well, he didn’t do any better this time around,” the veteran Chappell was quoted as saying in Pak Passion.

In that very series, Misbah could manage a mere 76 runs in four innings at a disastrous average of 12.66 with a top score of 38. As far as the recent series is concerned, Pakistan started with a defeat in the first Test at The Gabba by an innings and five runs. Babar Azam scored a century and Mohammad Rizwan turned up with a 90, but their efforts went in vain.

In the second Day-Night Test at the Adelaide Oval, Pakistan were blown away by David Warner’s unbeaten 335. Yasir Shah scored his maiden first-class century and Babar churned out a score in the 90s. However, it couldn’t save Pakistan from a defeat by an innings and 48 runs.

Their bowling attack was short of experience, having Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Muhammad Musa. They were taken to the cleaners. Even Yasir Shah, their premier spinner, couldn’t make inroads. Pakistan took only 13 wickets, which was less than Mitchell Starc’s 14 wickets.