Misbah-ul-Haq stands at the verge of becoming the first ever Pakistani captain to lead his team to a clean sweep against India in a bilateral ODI series. Therefore, despite having already won the series, he will be pumped up in the Delhi game to achieve the special feat.
Misbah made his intentions clear when he said that he will field the best team in the third ODI. “We will play to our full strength and try to win this match,” he said.
Pakistan has outplayed India in all aspects of the game in this series. However, it’s their fast bowlers who have set up the wins every time. Misbah too admitted that their new-ball attack was the difference between the two teams.
“One major difference between the two teams is the fast bowling. The way our pacers have been performing on this tour, has been the key to our success,” Misbah said.
As they prepare for the Delhi game, getting used to the cold weather will be a major part of both teams’ preparations. And the Pakistani skipper felt it will be easier for his team to acclimatise to the cold because of the practice they had ahead of this tour.
“The players will find it different here after playing in Chennai and Kolkata,” he said. “However, before coming to India we played a couple of matches in Lahore and it was almost as cold there as it is here. At this point we think playing night matches in that weather then was a great move. That practice will help us in this match.”
Misbah was pleased with the Feroz Shah Kotla wicket and expected it to remain the same throughout the innings. “The wicket looks very good. In both previous venues the weather was overcast and the pitch wasn’t exposed to much sunlight. This one doesn’t have much moisture and looks better for batting,” he said.
He also felt the toss will not be crucial. “The toss was important in the first game and we had the advantage after winning it. But in the second match the behaviour of the pitch was similar in both innings. Here too, the pitch looks very good and I don’t think winning the toss would be an advantage. The team that plays well will win.”
