Misbah-ul-Haq admitted that his team played well below their standards against New-Zealand. The head coach's comments came following the end of the tour. After being castled 2-0 by Kiwis in a two-match Test series, Misbah feels, that criticism is justified.

Before the Test series, Pakistan had a massive setback as their star batsman and captain Babar Azam, and opener Imam-ul-Haq were ruled out due to thumb injuries.

Both Test defeats were humiliating for the visitors- by 101 runs in Mount Maunganui and then by innings and 176 runs in Christchurch.

Replying to critics, Pakistan head coach, Misbah-ul-Haq said that people criticize us because they believe in our abilities.

"We deserve to be criticized for our performances. When people expect good performances from you and you don't deliver, they are justified to criticize you," said Misbah in a podcast issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Misbah feels that his team was below-par in all departments of the game.“The way we fought hard in the first Test was very good and everyone expected a similar performance in the second Test but that didn't happen. We had opportunities in the series to win matches but we didn't take them.

This is something we have to look at as to why we can't cross that line between winning and losing a match. I have seen it happen many times in recent matches," he said.

Misbah-ul-Haq also lamented over the dropped chances by his team fieldsmen and marked that as an area that needs to improved quickly. "These things ultimately affected the result of the series. We need to improve our fielding," He said.

Misbah-ul-Haq, 46, said that mistakes made on the New-Zealand tour will be analyzed before they finalize their squad to face South Africa at home.

"We will look at making changes according to the home conditions and the South African team. We may also consider top performers from the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy for the South African series.” he concluded.

Whitewash in New Zealand has pushed Pakistan to sixth position in the World Test Championship points table. 

(PTI Inputs)