Lack of internationals affecting player development: Misbah

Lack of internationals affecting player development: Misbah

         Misbah-ul-Haq has reiterated calls to address the lack of international cricket in Pakistan to arrest the slide of the game in the country.

The Pakistani captain, who is leading the Faisalabad Wolves in the Champions League T20 in India, was speaking in the aftermath of another loss by the Wolves which saw them knocked out of the tournament. According to Misbah, the difference in the quality of the domestic sides around the world and that of Pakistan was there for all to see.

“When there is international cricket in your country, there is a positive impact on your cricketers,” Misbah said while pointing towards the development of young players in Pakistan.

“Right in front of your eyes, you can see players from all parts of the world come here to play the IPL. There are different leagues in other countries and you can see a tangible difference. You can see that in Indian cricket, young players are mature by the time they come into international cricket. They know how to handle pressure, how to build an innings, how to respond with the ball under pressure,” he added.

Pakistan itself hasn't helped the cause much and since the halt of international fixtures in 2009 there hasn’t been a great deal done to help lift the crippling domestic structure out as Gautam Bhattacharyya of Gulf News puts it: “If lack of international cricket is one factor, the other crippling issue has been an inadequate domestic structure, something which the legendary Imran Khan has demanded attention on for years. There is virtually no better place for a batsman to go through the grind and work on patience than the domestic set-up if you want the batsmen to play long innings.”

 http://www.dawn.com/news/1044026/lack-of-internationals-affecting-player-development-misbah