PCB backs Misbah-ul-Haq despite his failure with Islamabad United in PSL 2020

The fifth edition of the Pakistan Super League may have ended on an unexpected note with the semi-finals getting called-off due to the escalating situation of the pandemic that is the coronavirus. However, for Misbah-ul-Haq-led Islamabad United, the tournament had already ended even before the semi-final stage as his team crashed out of the top-4.

Misbah, who was given special permission by the Pakistan Cricket Board to serve as head coach of Islamabad United, saw his team garner just seven points from 10 games, as the two-time champions crashed out in the group stage for the very first time.

However, despite the disappointment, the former Pakistan captain has got the full backing of the PCB Chief Operating Officer Wasim Khan, according to him, Pakistan has made a lot of progress under Misbah ever since he took over the national side.

“Since he took over as head coach we have seen steady progress in the national team’s performances in Tests and T20 cricket,” CEO Wasim Khan was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

‘We have full confidence in Misbah’: Wasim Khan

He added: “We have full confidence in Misbah even now but as is our policy we will sit down and review his one-year performance after the World T20 in Australia in October,” 

Wasim Khan revealed that PCB will do a complete postmortem of Misbah’s performance as the head coach and national selector, making it clear that the board is not looking to replace the former captain with any other coach.

“We will do a complete postmortem of his one-year progress and then reach a conclusion. He also made it clear that the Board was not contemplating appointing any other coach with Misbah,” he added

Khan added that the reason behind appointing Misbah as Islamabad United coach is they wanted him to gain some experience

“We have confidence in him and that is we allowed him to coach the Islamabad franchise as we wanted him to gain some experience as well in this position. You must keep in mind while he is the coach of the Pakistan team full-time he only joined the Islamabad franchise a few days before the PSL. We wanted it to be a learning experience for him as head coach,” Khan added.