Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has termed the ODI series win in South Africa as a "big confidence boost" for young captain Babar Azam but underlined a couple of issues the side needs to address going forward. They include sorting out a misfiring middle-order and better game plan when it comes to spin.
POST-SERIES INTROSPECTION
Misbah wants more runs and power-hitting from Pakistan's middle-order
"The youngsters we brought here for the middle order faced difficulties due to the conditions and couldn't perform very well," Misbah said. © AFP
"There are some glaring issues going forward, of course," Misbah said after Pakistan's 2-1 series win. "Power-hitting at No. 6-7 wasn't successful. We have to have a look at that. Obviously Hasan did that hitting for us at the end. Nawaz, Asif and Danish, who were looking forward to, couldn't do very well but we can't write them off. They have potential. We have to consider that they were playing overseas in different conditions.
"We need more consistent runs from the middle order along with some power. That's needed to make big runs. If you see yesterday's game, a score of 320 didn't look safe at one point in time. In today's cricket, scores of 330-350 are common and for that your middle order needs to have the capacity. We have to finish just like the top order has been starting for us.
To solve the middle-order woes in the series decider,
