Babar has to prove he has great cricketing sense as captain too: Misbah

Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq was all praise for skipper Babar Azam following their 2-0 Test series win over Zimbabwe recently. Misbah said that while Babar has proved his cricketing sense with the bat, he will now have to do so as captain as well. With a 2-0 series win, Babar has become the first Pakistan cricketer to lead his nation to four consecutive Test wins.

"Captaincy is something that gets better with time. The more you face certain situations, the better you will be at it. Babar has a great cricketing sense, he has proved that in all formats with the bat already. He has to prove that now in his captaincy too. Hopefully, he'll do well in the future too," Misbah said after the series win against Zimbabwe.

The former Pakistan captain also reckons that his players handled the challenge of being in a bio-secure bubble quite well.  "These are unprecedented times that we're living in. Bio-bubble life is never easy. In earlier times, players used to get a lot of private time on tours, where they could travel or meet people to cool off between games. Now, once you're in a bubble, you have to stay there no matter what. Hats off to the team and management for handling it so well," Misbah said. 

"International cricket is tough as it is and to perform well with the additional baggage is laudable. Commitment of the players and management is really good," he pointed.

Speaking on the squad rotation, Misbah sees a silver lining that it could be an opportunity to test out new players.  "We need to understand that these aren't normal times. So, we have bigger squads than they would otherwise be. Normally, a Test squad has 16 members while ODIs have 15. So, now that we have a bigger pool, you would see players who might not always get a game this early," Misbah said. 

"It's an opportunity to test out new players with an eye for the future. Gives them good exposure. Against tougher series, we may not be able to rotate as much as it's important to fix your core side with the World Cup around the corner," he concluded.

Pakistan have had two successful tours in the last month - first they won the limited-overs series against South Africa and followed that up with an impressive performance in the T20Is and Test series against Zimbabwe. 

Pakistan are scheduled to tour England next, where they will play three One-Day Internationals (ODI) and as many T20 Internationals (T20I), beginning from July 8 in Cardiff.