ENG vs PAK 2021: "We lost momentum and are struggling to regain it" - Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq acknowledged that his team are on a downward spiral and are struggling to regain momentum. Pakistan recently suffered a 3-0 white-wash against England in the ODIs, despite the hosts having as many as nine uncapped players in their squad.
England had to change their entire squad just before the start of the ODI series due to cases of COVID-19 emerging inside the team's bio-bubble. Pakistan were seen as favorites to trounce England's makeshift team, which was put together in the final few hours before the series.
However, England went on to script a memorable 3-0 series win, and Misbah-ul-Haq admitted that there was no way to defend his team's shambolic performance.
In a virtual press conference, the Pakistan coach said:
"You can never defend such a performance, it was poor and disappointing. In the first game (in Cardiff) we couldn´t handle the conditions with the bat. In the last match (in Birmingham) the bowling and fielding was disappointing, and that was a problem throughout the series. I am not looking for an excuse but somewhere we lost momentum and are struggling to regain it."
While Pakistan's batting failed to live up to expectations in the first two ODIs, their bowlers failed to defend a total of 332 in the third and final match, thereby highlighting their weaknesses in all departments of the game.
"A worrying sign for me as a head coach" - Misbah-ul-Haq
Misbah-ul-Haq is aware that he needs to arrest Pakistan's slide at the earliest. The upcoming three-match T20I series is an important one for him and his team to regain some pride from the England tour.
Misbah-ul-Haq talked about how Pakistan were on the right track with wins earlier in the year, but the England series panned out differently for the Asian giants.
"We have a very important T20 series ahead against England, then West Indies, and we are looking to sort this out as quickly as possible. It´s a worrying sign for me as a head coach. If you look back to our recent series, we were satisfied that we were on the right track. We had covered almost every department, but this series panned out differently."
England lead the head-to-head record in the shortest format against Pakistan by 12-5. In the last five T20I encounters between the two sides, both have won two games each while one ended in no-result.