Misbah-ul-Haq holds the 14-day quarantine period responsible for poor performance of Pakistan on New Zealand tour

Men in Green are having a poor run in the ongoing Pakistan tour of New Zealand as they lost the three-match T20I series by 1-2 followed by a massive 101-run defeat in the first Test match of the two-match series at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui against the Black Caps. Thus, the team is subjected to a lot of hate and criticism from all fronts. However, Pakistan’s head coach Misbah-ul-Haq blamed the extended quarantine period for the rusty performance of the players.

A number of Pakistan players had tested positive for the novel coronavirus upon arrival in New Zealand. As a result, the New Zealand authorities had to extend the quarantine period for the visitors to 14 days and their permission of training and practicing while being in isolation was also denied.

Thus, the team got very little time to prepare themselves for the three T20 Internationals. Speaking about the performance of the visiting team, head coach Misbah-ul-Haq reckoned that the players weren’t feeling very energetic and had to go through a lot of discomfort while being in isolation. He also lauded the players for performing decently in the T20I series despite the less preparation time.

“People have to understand that we have been through a very tough time in New Zealand. After 14-days of total quarantine for the players to still perform like they did in the T20 series and Test match with fatigued bodies and mindset.” Misbah said as quoted by Scroll.in.

There are a lot of positives for us on this tour: Misbah-ul-Haq

Further, the head coach also asserted that there were lots of positives for them and they could have easily clinched the T20I series if the top-order would not have delivered a disappointing performance. The veteran was all praises for opening batsman Mohammad Rizwan, Fawad Alam, and Faheem Ashraf.

“There are a lot of positives for us on this tour. But the players put all that behind them and had only six days to prepare for the T20 series including the traveling and all. I think we performed competitively in the T20 series and if not for some mistakes at crucial times like our fielding and top-order failure we could even have won the T20 series.

“The plus points for have been the performance of Rizwan the way he has taken responsibility even as captain and batsman. The way Fawad Alam has come to the front and played so well and the way Faheem Ashraf has come back strongly. These are all positives for us,” the former captain added.