Misbah: Team more important than heroes

Pakistan

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq was delighted with his team’s win over Australia in the first Test in Dubai, and said the credit went to the entire team, as they did not believe in hyping individuals.

Misbah said that the 221-run win was a solid effort from everyone, and said they had tried not to focus on spinner Saeed Ajmal’s absence, and as a result Zulfiqur Babar and Yasir Shah were free to put in match-winning bowling efforts.

The skipper said: “I have always said that a win is always because of the team effort. The team effort was good as everyone did his role.

“Batsmen scored when it was needed and bowlers gave breakthrough when demanded, they did their role when needed. Cricket is due to names, but in this match all the players did well as a team.”

Misbah said the win was one of his most memorable, especially in light of how well the batsmen did, with Younis Khan bagging two centuries, and Ahmed Shehzad and Sarfraz Ahmed also scoring three figures.

He added that they had to avoid complacency ahead of Abu Dhabi: “It’s difficult to rank this win but it is one of the finest victories. I always rank 3-0 against England (in 2012 in UAE) at the top but after that this is a big achievement, for me also as captain.

“Looking ahead we will try to do this again but we have to try to focus more, be determined, avoid complacency and not get lazy which we do sometimes. A team like Australia, they are always there, always look for opportunity so we have to be focused.”

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