Misbah hits back at Chappell for 'uncalled' criticism of Pakistan

Melbourne [Australia], Jan. 13 (ANI): Hitting back at Ian Chappell's criticisms of Pakistan after their recent 0-3 Test whitewash against Australia in series Down Under, Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq has said that the comments were "uncalled for and unbecoming", especially coming from someone of the stature of the Aussie legend in the game. The former Australian skipper had called on Cricket Australia not to invite Pakistan for Test series Down Under in future unless the struggling Asian side improve their performance and provide some sort of challenge to the home side. Writing in his column for cricket.com.au, Misbah hit back at Chappell and said, "I noted some very harsh comments from Ian Chappell about my place in the team, my leadership and about whether Pakistan should have toured Australia." "I believe those comments were uncalled for and unbecoming to someone who has a vast experience of playing and watching cricket. The comments do not make any sense or suit a cricketer of his stature." The 42-year-old Pakistani veteran asked whether Australia's abysmal recent record in Asia warranted a similar rethink. Australia have lost their last nine Tests in a row in India, the UAE and Sri Lanka; since 2008 they have lost 13 of their 18 Tests in Asia and won only one. "Australia themselves have been on the losing side in the recent away tours. They were clean swept by a Sri Lanka side that did not have Mahela Jayawardena or Kumar Sangakkara and some of their players didn't even have 10 Tests to their names," he said. "Then Australia lost the one-day international series 0-5 in South Africa. In the recent past they have been whitewashed by us in the UAE and in India. If we apply Chappell's comments to Australia, does that mean if they continue to get whitewashed on the subcontinent on a regular basis then they should also not travel there?" "And if Australia does not travel to Asia or the Asian teams do no travel to Australia then how are they going to improve?" he asked. Criticising Pakistan's inability to play competitive cricket in the tournament, Chappell warned the Misbah-ul-Haq-led side to either stop playing poor cricket or just stay at home. "Pakistan have now lost 12 Test matches on the trot in Australia, and somebody's got to give them a kick up the bum. Cricket Australia have got to start saying 'listen if things don't improve, we will stop with the invites'," Chappell, had said. "You can't continue to [play poor] cricket. You can't bowl poorly, have conservative field placings and field sloppily and expect to play decent cricket in Australia," he added. Chappell had slammed Misbah's captaincy, saying that a lot of Pakistan's struggles were because of no inspiration from the latter. "A lot of their struggles were because they had no leadership. There was no inspiration from Misbah, so things have got to change in Pakistan," he added. Chappell also expressed his views on Misbah's future as a captain. He insisted that if he would have been in selection committee then it would be an end of Misbah's era. "If I had anything to do with the selection then that will be it for Misbah as the captain, but in Pakistan they do some very strange things, so I wouldn't bet on it," he added. Australia thrashed Pakistan by 220 runs in the third and the final dead-rubber Test to hand the visitors their 12th consecutive Test defeat Down Under. (ANI)