Misbah ul Haq, Pakistan’s most successful captain ever, has announced to retire from international cricket once and for all, after the three-Test series against West Indies, which starts from April 21. Misbah made the announcement at a press conference in Lahore on Thursday, finally ending a long-running saga over his playing future.
“It will be my last series and I had conveyed this to the chairman (Pakistan Cricket Board) quite some time ago,” Misbah told reporters at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. “I will try to finish it on a high note.
“There was no pressure on me. I was planning to quit after the England series in the UAE [in October 2015] but there were some things and I had to carry on playing. But overall it’s fine and not like I am under any pressure or somebody has dictated this to me. I have myself understood that this is it and it’s purely my own decision. It’s a wrong impression that the board has enforced this as my last series or there’s a patch-up between me and the cricket board. I thought to play against West Indies because it was important for us as we haven’t won against them in their own backyard.”
Misbah ul Haq , who was also named as one of Wisden’s prestigious Five Cricketers of the Year on Wednesday, has been Pakistan’s most successful captain with 24 wins and 11 draws in 53 matches.
He had been under scrutiny after a string of recent Test losses, which came shortly after Pakistan achieved the No. 1 ranking in Tests in October 2015. This also coincided with a dip in his own form. Pakistan suffered six consecutive Test defeats, and lost away series in New Zealand and Australia by margins of 2-0 and 3-0 respectively.
