Lahore: Cricket returned to Pakistan after 10 years, Sri Lanka who played their last match in Pakistan way back in 2009 visited the country again for limited-overs series in 2019. Men in Green won the ODI series while Sri Lanka clinched T20I series.
Interestingly, Pakistan is ranked number one in the ICC points table but still was thrashed by under-experienced Sri Lankan side. Former Pakistan skipper Ramiz Raja has insisted that Misbah-ul-Haq, who is serving as the chief selector and head coach of the green shirts, has been "overburdened" by the country's cricket board.
The cricketer-turned-commentator also pointed out that Pakistan needs a power-hitting coach to correct the players' direction in the game's shortest format.
"Misbah-ul-Haq has been overburdened after he was handed the coaching responsibilities of all formats. I feel we need to bring in a power-hitting coach for the shorter format, to correct the direction of the players," Ramiz said in a video posted on his official YouTube channel.
Pakistan lost the first two games of the ongoing T20I series by 64 and 35 runs respectively, as the islanders took an unassailable lead in the three-match series in Lahore.
"The result of the T20I series against (Sri Lanka) was expected as Pakistan team was stressed after losing the first game. Many old players were recalled in the T20 team but were unable to deliver under pressure," Ramiz said.
He is also of the view that Pakistan should bring in youth in the T20 format.
On Tuesday, Misbah accepted responsibility for the twin defeats against Sri Lanka and said he needed to find solutions to the problems hampering the side.
"You are seeing problems with the team and I am also seeing them. We need to resolve these. It's not something that can be fixed overnight. It takes some time to fix these things," said Misbah.
"Obviously I am answerable but to make a team, you need some time and to do that, you do some experiments. Only then do you get the answers to your questions? A lot of things are in front of us and we need to find solutions."
