Pakistan cricket team set for major changes

London: The Pakistan team looks set for a major overhaul after their poor showing in the ICC Champions Trophy here.

Misbah-ul-Haq’s side crashed out in the group stages of the 50-over competition after losing all three of their matches to South Africa, West Indies and arch-rivals India, with batting their major weakness as they failed to total more than 170 runs.

Now Misbah has made it clear that change is inevitable before their upcoming tour of the West Indies. “After this performance, clearly everybody can see where we need changes and what we need in the future playing against West Indies,” he said.

“But changes should be made very sensibly. We should create a good combination and make the changes based on what you need for the team. One should also think how you can improve the combination, how you can improve our batting line-up and try to build a good batting combination.

“You should not take decisions based on the panic situation and circumstances that we are in now. Everyone must think well, plan it and decide how we should be going about the future.”

Misbah also feels that the positive aspect of the team should be taken into consideration. “I think the biggest plus here for us is our bowling line-up, especially the fast bowlers, and we’ve got two of the best spinners that are really performing well. It’s good to see [opener] Nasir Jamshed start scoring runs. However, I think the batting is an issue, so we need to just think about that, how we have to go further in the future,” he said.

Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore, who has decided to stopover in Dubai on his way back to Pakistan, is hoping the changes made now can be used as a base for winning the 2015 World Cup. “Pakistan’s domestic cricket is very strong. I am sure the Pakistan Cricket Board selectors will now be looking for a team with the 2015 World Cup in mind.”