Pakistan Test captain Azhar Ali has backed Misbah-ul-Haq’s suggestion to extend the deadline for World Test Championship. Pakistan’s head coach-cum-chief selector wants ICC to extend the current cycle of the ICC Test Championship. He believes doing so will give every team a fair chance as every team is suffering from a forced break due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus across the globe.
In a video conference with the reporters, Ali said, “If, hopefully, in the near future cricket is possible and the health of people is not compromised, I’m sure every cricketer will say we should get cricket back on, even if it is behind closed doors.”
“There is no sport on TV right now that people can watch. They will be happy to get sport back on TV. People’s health is more important, but if we can get sport going without imperilling that, I’d support it,” he added.
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Ali placed his confidence in the International Cricket Council and expressed his assurance that ICC will do the needful and take the best possible step.
“I’m sure the ICC will look at this. The Test Championship was a long competition anyway, so I don’t think it would be a big deal to extend it if the series cannot be held in time; I’d support extending the Test championship,” he added.
Azhar Ali replaced Sarfaraz Ahmed last October and will surely use this lockdown period to reflect on his captaincy. Ali’s short tenure as captain has seen him suffer a 0-2 loss in Australia, His team followed it up by a 1-0 win over Sri Lanka before the series was called off because of the pandemic.
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The players shared his ideology and how he would like to set the atmosphere of the Pakistan team’s dressing room.
“I did want to bring fresh ideas into the team when appointed, and remove the fear factor that players have. The players should feel free to express themselves. In a team culture, the captain bears great responsibility for the sort of culture they develop. I want to ensure that regardless of whether I’m in the dressing room or not everyone thinks about the good of the team.” he said.
