KARACHI: Former Pakistan cricket heavyweights have asked Misbah-ul-Haq to call time on his illustrious career, blaming his poor batting and uninspired captaincy for a 3-0 whitewash to Australia.
Misbah, who at 42 is the oldest current international cricketer, capped a miserable series with a 220-run defeat in the third and final Test in Sydney on Saturday, his final score of 38 accounting for half of his entire run-tally (76).
It was Pakistan´s fourth consecutive 3-0 whitewash in Australia since 1999, and their twelfth straight defeat.
After the loss Misbah said he would take his time to decide on the future — a reversal of an earlier announcement that he would quit following the defeat in the second match last week.
Since taking over the captaincy in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal in 2010, Misbah has led Pakistan in 53 Tests, winning 24 losing 18 and drawing 11.
He also briefly led his team to world number one Test rankings last year, despite playing no matches at home due to the prevailing insecurity. The feat earned him widespread acclaim throughout the cricketing world.
