Misbah fires back at 'immoral' critics

Pakistan's outgoing one-day international captain Misbah-ul-Haq has fired back at criticism from former players, saying media outlets should be more scrupulous when it comes to hiring expert commentators.

Misbah came under regular attack from pundits and past players in his homeland during the World Cup, with the vitriol directed towards the 40-year-old particularly vicious after Pakistan lost their opening two matches of the tournament.

The criticism lessened slightly when Pakistan salvaged their campaign with an upset win over South Africa before they gave Australia a fright in their quarter-final in Adelaide last Friday.

The most vicious criticism came from former fast-bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who labelled Misbah "selfish" and "cowardly", while former captain Mohammad Yousuf criticised Misbah for what he deemed to be inconsistent selections.

Speaking at the Pakistan Cricket Board's headquarters in Lahore upon his return home from Australia, Misbah made specific mention of one of his leading critics, former fast-bowler Sikander Bakht, joking that the 57-year-old could celebrate now that the skipper had confirmed his retirement.

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Fans in Karachi protest after Pakistan's Cup exit // Getty

Misbah didn't hold back in returning fire at his critics, suggesting media outlets should undertake a more thorough screening process when it comes to hiring former players as commentators.

"I should say the responsibility here falls on our media houses because when you hire someone even for smallest of jobs – for example a servant at home – there is an eligibility criteria and training before hiring," he told reporters.

"But in Pakistan, anyone can become TV anchor or expert. That is why we hear such bad languages on TV.

"It is extremely painful to see our senior cricketers and former colleagues having no moral values. It seems that they haven’t learned moral values from home or institutions.

"They use such bad language on TV that the whole world is shocked at them.

"They just blame one person for everything.

"Be it a failure in batting or bowling, they have only Misbah-ul-Haq to blame.

"They should know that whatever wrong is happening in our cricket is not due to one man."

Misbah continued, suggesting he would not be surprised if he was blamed for Pakistan's isolation from the international game since the terrorist attack on the touring Sri Lankan team in 2009. 

"It wasn’t me who attacked on Sri Lankan cricket team. It wasn’t me who stopped international cricket in Pakistan. The drawbacks in our cricket are not due to me," he said.

"I wasn’t part of Pakistan team before 2007. So someone needs to ask these experts that were part of the World Cups in 2003 and 2007 'why did Pakistan bow out in the very first round?'

"In Pakistan, he who has no work to do becomes an expert on TV."

Misbah, who will continue to play Test cricket, retires from the ODI game with 42 fifties and an impressive average of 43.40, despite never scoring a century in 162 matches.

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Misbah during Pakistan's loss to Australia // Getty

He said the PCB's task of replacing him as captain would be a challenging one, adding whoever took the job would face an uphill battle to turn around the team's one-day fortunes. 

"It's unfortunate for Pakistan that we are not able to match the level of the top teams around the world for many reasons," he said.

"Our batting and our fielding is just not there. We have to improve our basic structure.

"We played the quarter-finals and the credit for that goes to our bowlers who compensated our batting lapses.

"In batting and fielding, we need a lot of improvement.

"We can say as a batting unit we are not yet matured and don't know how to play a big innings.

"It's a problem of our batting line-up and we need to look at it in future.

"Maybe if the batsmen get some exposure of international cricket, they get better.

"But obviously, it was our problem in the World Cup."