Abu Dhabi: Pakistan skipper Misbah Ul-Haq has expressed his “disappointment” in West Indies no longer being the force that they were renowned for in the past after his side took an unassailable 2-0 Test lead in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
The visitors, who blanked the Windies 3-0 in both the T20 and ODIs series, are now staring at a similar fate in the Tests series as well.
The defeat is West Indies’ 19th in their last 29 Tests since November 2013, having won only four and having drawn the remaining six.
It is in total contrast to the West Indies team of the 1980s, when under Clive Lloyd’s captaincy they were an indomitable force at international level, going undefeated in 27 Tests from January 1982 to December 1984.
“Yes it is disappointing to see them losing this way and if you look at the past they were such a solid team at the international level,” said Misbah, who now has 23 wins in the 48 Test matches in which he has led Pakistan.
“You are seeing Windies downfall as they are a young side but they have some young players who are performing in bits and pieces,” felt Misbah, who judged inexperience as the reason for the Windies decline.
“The young players might become good with experience but at the moment you can say they are inexperienced for the Tests and that’s why it’s difficult for them to perform at this level. Everybody wants to see a strong West Indies team and they have to come up the way they used to be in the past. It is disappointing for all of their fans as well,” added Misbah, who hailed his bowlers for sticking to their task on a dead track.
“Winning as many matches helps in the development of the team. It was great to see all the players contributing. They took the challenge on a pitch like this and to take wickets on such a track was satisfactory,” said Misbah, who expressed his displeasure over the slowness of the Abu Dhabi wicket that made his bowlers’ job so painstaking.
“If we look at strengths, then we have a world class spinner like Yasir Shah and we expect that when we have a pitch which helps spinners. This pitch gets a turn every time we play here but this one did not have spin even on the last day. So credit to the bowlers — the way they have performed on a flat track. To get 20 wickets on this pitch is a big achievement,” said Misbah, who backed his decision not to enforce a follow on saying, “The strategy behind it was to save my own body and that of the whole team.”
He added: “I think when you field more than 100 overs so continuously and if you think they have to field again and bowl the opposition out, it is going to be tough. Yasir is 30-plus and you ask him to bowl again after bowling 40 overs and bowl another 40 would be too much. So assessing the conditions it was better to bat again and grind your opposition again and then bowl.”
