Pakistan considered pulling out of New Zealand tour while in quarantine: Misbah-ul-Haq

Head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has revealed Pakistan considered abandoning its cricket tour of New Zealand while in a 14-day quarantine. The former Pakistan skipper stated that Pakistan eventually decided to go ahead with the tour for their fans. Pakistan are in New Zealand for three T20 internationals and two Tests.

Their sojourn in New Zealand, however, did not start in an expected manner as eight of their members tested positive for the coronavirus upon arrival. On the very first day of the quarantine, Pakistan’s players breached the strict health protocols by mingling in corridors and sharing food. Consequently, Pakistan were stripped of its allowance to train while being in isolation,

New Zealand government had also issued a strict final warning to the tourists, threatening them to deport in case of another breach. But there were no more breaches. And during those tough times, the prospect of abandoning the tour did cross the Pakistan team’s mind, Misbah-ul-Haq confirmed on Friday.

“We did discuss [pulling out of the tour] but then finally decided to say no to this option because when you invest this much time on this, then you have got to give it a shot,” Misbah was quoted as saying by Pakistan’s Dawn.

“Coping in the [Covid-19] situation isn’t easy for anyone, but if we want to keep the game alive and keep it going we have to make this sacrifice for fans sitting at home who want to watch the game and get entertained in this difficult time,” he added.

No excuses: Misbah-ul-Haq

Due to the unfortunate turn of events, Pakistan could not get as much time as they would have wanted to prepare for the challenging series. They came out of quarantine on Tuesday and players moved from Christchurch to the resort town of Queenstown to begin preparing for the first of three T20Is next Friday.

Misbah-ul-Haq, however, said the time in isolation will not “be an excuse” if results don’t go their way in the T20s and the Tests. He pointed out Pakistan need to move on and prepare for the upcoming assignment.

“As professionals we are not looking for excuses, because at the end of the day, no matter whatever excuse you make, people consider end results. Whatever happened, we can’t do much about it. What we can control is catching up with every minute and every moment we couldn’t get in those 14 days,” said Misbah-ul-Haq.

“You think about how many days we need to prepare, how we are going to prepare, how to lift your team. Obviously, these aren’t normal circumstances, what happens here isn’t ideal. But then for the sake of international cricket you want cricket to go on, and being a big stakeholder, we will give our full effort to help cricket overall,” he added.