Adelaide: After Sri Lanka’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by South Africa on Wednesday brought an end to the One Day International careers of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, Pakistan fans now fear that Frida’s knockout clash against Australia could see the end of skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and star all-rounder Shahid Afridi.
Both Misbah and Afridi have announced they will retire at the end of the World Cup and a defeat at Adelaide Oval would result in such a scenario.
The sad part of retiring from cricket during a World Cup is that fans might not be able to give a standing ovation to their heroes during their last batting performance. Jayawardene and Sangakkara could not receive such recognition as fans did not know they would lose the match when they came out to bat first.
So when Misbah came to meet the media for his pre-match press conference on Thursday, he was asked how proud he and Afridi are with the impact they have made in this tournament.
“I’m pretty satisfied with what I have done and especially Shahid. The biggest satisfaction is that we gave everything for our team and country,” Misbah said.
“Whatever we’ve got, we just put our efforts together for the country, and that is the biggest satisfaction. Obviously this World Cup is still not over and we’d really like to do well in this tournament, especially trying to win tomorrow’s [Friday] game and go further in the tournament.
“That’s what you could say our desire and dream is. I’d say I want to play good cricket tomorrow and put in a hundred per cent.”
Misbah also categorically stated that he will not reconsider his decision to retire.
“I had decided that, regardless of how I perform in the World Cup and the results, I will go and I have no intentions of changing that decision. It is the right time to retire from one-dayers.”
The Pakistan skipper was at his jovial best during the press conference. The first question he was asked was whether he has decided on his XI. He said: “Sorry.” So another journalist asked whether he wasn’t sure of his team, to which Misbah responded: “What do you want me to do? Announce the team here?”
So when another Pakistan journalist reminded him that Australians announce their team the day before, Misbah laughed, saying it was a secret for Pakistan.
