"Pakistan don't intend to experiment too much during Zimbabwe series": Misbah Ul Haq

Misbah stressed the importance of playing well in a series part of the ICC Super League.

The series kickstarts on October 30 | GettyPakistan head coach Misbah Ul Haq said his team may be seen trying out a few different combinations, but there won't be too many experiments when Zimbabwe arrives for an ODI series beginning next month, given the fact that it is part of the ongoing ICC Super League. 

The Zimbabweans will visit Pakistan for a series consisting of three ODIs and three T20Is. The ODIs, included in the qualification pathway towards the next World Cup, will be played in Multan from October 30th, with the second and third one-dayer on November 1st and 3rd, respectively. 

Read Also: Zimbabwe Cricket get government nod to tour Pakistan

"We are very excited to be playing our first ODI series after more than a year at home and we will try a combination of experienced and young players but we don't intend to experiment too much," Misbah was quoted as saying by PTI

Pakistan's most recent ODI series came back in October last year. A scheduled standalone game against Bangladesh in March was indefinitely postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Misbah believes it's important for his boys to return to the format nicely and earn crucial points towards booking a ticket to India for the winter of 2023. 

"We have to keep in mind that the points at stake in the series against Zimbabwe will count towards the 2023 World Cup qualification process so the coming series not only gives us a chance to get points but also start trying out different combinations for the next World Cup."

"The idea is we start building a good combination with good reserve players from the Zimbabwe series onwards leading to the 2023 World Cup."

The visiting team also contests three T20Is versus the hosts in Islamabad, starting with the first one on November 7. 

Misbah informed that all of the 21 players that returned from the tour of UK had given negative COVID-19 tests, which paved way for the clearance to feature for their respective teams in the National T20 Championship, beginning September 30. 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 28 Sep, 2020

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