"We played very poor cricket" - Misbah left confused by Sri Lanka T20 whitewash

Misbah’s double appointment has been questioned in some quarters, with the task of having to select and coach the squad seen as a difficult burden

Misbah-ul-Haq has admitted he was left dumfounded by his side’s struggles as Pakistan were whitewashed by Sri Lanka in their T20 series.

The three-match contest took place at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, which was hosting its first international cricket for two years, when Sri Lanka were once again the visitors.

After winning the ODI series between the teams in comfortable fashion, Pakistan – the world’s top-ranked T20 nation – would have been confident of defeating the tourists, whose squad has been decimated by unavailability, with several regulars pulling out of the tour before it got underway.

However, the new-look Sri Lanka side was dominant throughout, winning all three games with ease. Umar Akmal, recalled to the side in Misbah’s first T20 series as head coach and chief selector, was dismissed first ball in both games he played.

“It's an example for us the way they have beaten us in every department,” Misbah admitted. “They won the games in almost one-sided fashion leaving us in tatters and with lots of questions to answer.

“We played very poor cricket and definitely it's my responsibility but I am still thinking what really happened because these are the same set of players that have been playing for long and made the team No. 1.”

^{Babar Azam struggled with the bat for Pakistan}

Misbah’s dual appointment has been questioned in some quarters, with the task of having to select and coach the squad seen as a difficult burden.

Former Australia cricketer Dean Jones, who has coached in the Pakistan Super League, tweeted that he struggled to see how Misbah could carry out both roles effectively.

“In my opinion in cricket, you cannot have both roles as a head coach and a selector,” he wrote. “Imagine if you were a player with some technical or mental problems. Would you be honest with your coach as you are more likely to be sacked?

He added: “With three formats of the game and a new first-class system...it’s hard to do all the jobs properly and well. I want Misbah to do well. He needs support and patience.”

Of his team’s poor performances in the T20 series – they made no score bigger than 147, while Haris Sohail made the only half century scored by a Pakistani, Misbah confessed he could not put a finger on the root of their struggles.

“I haven't done anything in the last 10 days that could have deterred anything. If you want to put responsibility on me, you can but in this brief time since I took charge how big a difference could I created with my coaching?

“The strategy was simple – to cash in on the powerplay and later go all out in the last five overs. These are the same players who took Pakistan on top [of the world rankings] but in this series they were not able to execute things well with the bat, ball and while fielding.”

He defended his batsmen, who failed to fire in the series; Babar Azam is the world’s premier T20I batsman, according to the ICC ranking system. However, here, he could only make scored of 27, 3 and 13.