Out of isolation now, Pakistan head coach Misbah Ul Haq revealed the thought of pulling out of the series in New Zealand crossed the team's mind as the controversy around protocols breach followed by more than half a dozen positive cases left them in disarray.
Upon arrival on Kiwi shores, the Pakistanis players broke the health regulations designed by the local authorities and gave as many as eight Coronavirus positive tests during their 14-day quarantine.
The breach and those cases led to a training exemption been taken away from Misbah's boys. This was after a "final warning" had been given to them, with another such breach potentially leading to premature home departure.
"Obviously these were not normal circumstances and we discussed with the cricket board options but in the end we decided that now that we have already been in New Zealand for so long we must remain and finish the tour," Misbah told reporters on Friday (December 11), with the entire touring contingent finally moving to Queenstown in the build-up to the first of three T20Is beginning December 18.
"We are a bit unlucky we couldn't start training after three days. But in the end we have to make up for lost time and we are now on a mission to play good cricket and win here," he added.
Pakistan players can now move around freely during their tour in a country which has done a remarkable job in restoring normalcy.
Misbah understands the strict protocols and bubble life are necessary for the cricket matches to go ahead unscathed amid the pandemic but the coach feels much more needs to be done to ensure players' mental well-being is also looked after.
"If we have to co-exist with COVID-19 and also ensure cricket is played then all teams have to give sacrifices like we did here. We are here to support international cricket in difficult times so that cricket fans and people get to see cricket and some entertainment."
"[But] it is a great stress mentally on the players who are the main stakeholders of the sport and from what I know cricket boards are already working on ways to ease things for us"
Limited training time won't help leading into the Test series from December 26, but Misbah reckons his team can certainly fall back on the experience of playing in England this summer. He also said his team have the firepower in their attack to match that of the Black Caps.
"Batting is a challenge for us but we can make it up with our bowling qualities," Misbah said. "We know he (Lockie Ferguson) bowls over 150km/h. He is a very hostile bowler but if they have one we have four bowlers like this who can touch 150. Wahab [Riaz], even Shaheen [Afridi] too touches 144 when he hits his peak."
"New Zealand is a tough opponent, we saw them playing against West Indies but we are confident looking at how we played the last couple of series and England experience will help us, and hopefully we will be ready for competitive cricket by December 18."
(Inputs from Cricbuzz)
