Online
\nMANCHESTER
\nPakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq said we are feeling frustrated, just as the fans are, after the Old Trafford Test match but this is how cricket is. \u201cThere are very small margins between victory and defeat and it\u2019s easy to curse yourself when you\u2019ve lost,\u201d an official press release quoted him as saying.
\n\u201cBut, we should remember that we were right on top until pretty much the last session of the game and we played very good cricket. Sure, we need to improve 10 to 15 per cent and deal with pressure situations a little better but we shouldn\u2019t be mentally down.
\n\u201cThere is disappointment, of course, but we must not keep that feeling in our minds otherwise it will be difficult to come back but the team believes we can fight back.
\n\u201cIt was a thrilling Test match and full credit must go to England for the way they fought back, came from behind and took the game away from us. There was wonderful cricket played by both teams. Sometimes luck doesn\u2019t favour you, sometimes the opposition plays well \u2013 that\u2019s the beauty of the game.
\n\u201cIf we look back at the whole Test match, we controlled most of the sessions until the last one. You could say one session in our second innings had a big say and then obviously the partnership of Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler. They counter-attacked well and there was a bit of inexperience \u2013 and even panic \u2013 in the team that cost us.
\n\u201cThere has been debate about whether we could have bowled more short stuff or we could have bowled Shadab Khan earlier. Maybe so, but you also have to remember that Woakes and Buttler did have quite a lot of luck in that partnership. A lot of balls went here and there, into no man\u2019s land. If one of those goes to a fielder then the situation could have been very different.
\n\u201cWe still need to improve, of course, but overall we fought really well against a top team in our first international fixture for six months.
\n\u201cIt was a brave decision to bat first against England\u2019s bowling attack in those conditions. Shan Masood batted really well and it was great to see his partnerships with, first, Babar Azam and then Shadab Khan that shifted the momentum.
\n\u201cShan should be given a lot of credit for his innings. He has been working so hard \u2013 with coaches Shahid Aslam and now Younis Khan \u2013 ever since I took the coaching job last September. He\u2019s changed a few things in his basic set-up and his approach to batting in South Africa and then Australia. He\u2019s a different batsman now and Younis has helped him too. They have a good relationship from batting together at Pallekele back in 2015 when Shan made his first Test hundred.
\n\u201cThe bowling was also excellent. It\u2019s a young seam attack, apart from Mohammad Abbas, and both Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah did really well. Yasir Shah bowled well in both innings and it\u2019s great to see him back in such good form after a period of struggle. Those are positive signs for us. We fielded well, which was another plus, and Mohammad Rizwan was outstanding behind the stumps.
\n\u201cAll the bowlers seem fine at the moment. They bowled a decent amount of overs but not too much so I don\u2019t think there are issues of fatigue at the moment. But let\u2019s see how everybody is feeling just before the match, how the conditions are and we will decide accordingly.
\n\u201cThis is an unusual tour, of course, but we are feeling very happy and comfortable in the \u2018bubble\u2019. We are spending a lot of time together, which has allowed the group to bond well. We eat all our meals together and have enjoyed some very competitive games of table tennis and pool! There are some excellent table tennis players in the group, particularly Imam-ul-Haq and Imad Wasim.
\n\u201cMy message to the fans is that you have given us excellent support from back home so far and we thank you for that. Please keep supporting Pakistan and we will do our best to come back in this series, which I really believe this team is capable of doing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Online MANCHESTER Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq said we are feeling frustrated, just as the fans are, after the Old Trafford Test match but this is how cricket is. \u201cThere are very small margins between victory and defeat and it\u2019s easy to curse yourself when you\u2019ve lost,\u201d an official press release quoted him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n