Pakistan's head coach-cum-chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq hopes England will soon pay a return visit to his country after his team traveled to the United Kingdom during the current COVID-19 pandemic situation.
Pakistan is currently in England where they have lost three-match Test series 0-1 recently and are now set to play three T20 International series from Friday (August 27).
England has not visited Pakistan since 2005-06 following a terror attack on Sri Lanka's team bus in Lahore in 2009. However, the security situation has improved a lot over the years in Pakistan with a number of teams like Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, West Indies, and Bangladesh in recent years.
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Pointing out that England players have appeared in the Pakistan Super League, Misbah also assured that there will no compromise on the security of players in Pakistan.
Misbah said in a column for the Pakistan Cricket Board: “Looking into the future, we would really appreciate England visiting Pakistan soon. A number of England players have appeared in the HBL Pakistan Super League 2020, which was played at home. Then, we had Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and MCC in the 2019-20 season and before that, the World XI and the West Indies in 2017-18.”
On the security situation in Pakistan, the head coach said: “Players from all over the world now know about the levels of security Pakistan can provide and how much they will be welcomed.”
He further added, “Pakistan cricket fans want to see top players in the world performing right in front of them so everybody is waiting for that visit. This is one way that everyone can support each other in difficult times. The whole cricket community needs to support each other - that's the only way to promote the game and bring joy to fans and cricket lovers.”
The former captain also advised the young bowlers to take a cue from veteran English pacer James Anderson, who recently became the first fast bowler in the history of Test cricket to take 600 wickets.
He added, “Anderson's achievement of reaching 600 Test wickets is amazing. He has shown exceptional discipline, motivation, and determination because fast bowling is the toughest job in cricket. He has control, he's tactically very smart and is always challenging the batsman.
And it is important to remember that he's there for Test cricket. He has made his name in Test cricket and the love for the red-ball game is clearly there. That is something that our bowlers need to give priority to, especially the young bowlers.”
Misbah signed off by saying, “Our bowlers have learned a lot from this series and it was great to see Shaheen (Shah Afridi) having the chance to talk about bowling with Jimmy Anderson after the Test had finished. Learning from great fast bowlers will help them tactically.”
(With PTI Inputs)
