Pakistan cricket has a problem it doesn’t like talking about and Misbah-ul-Haq just called it out. The former Test captain, who recently stepped away from his role as a national selector, didn’t hold back on a TV show recently, pointing to an uncomfortable truth: local coaches and foreign coaches are simply not judged by the same yardstick.
Misbah-ul-Haq explained that foreign coaches are generally given more freedom and authority to run things their way, while local coaches are constantly scrutinised and criticised far more harshly. He was clear that he has no issue with hiring foreign coaches, his concern is the bias shown by fans, the media, former players and the board itself, who tend to go easier on outsiders.
He added that when results go south, foreign coaches rarely get held accountable the way local coaches do. Local coaches, he said, are under the microscope at all times, while foreign coaches escape that same level of blame. His message is – Pakistani cricket needs to start backing its local coaches instead of tearing them down at the first sign of trouble.
Misbah-ul-Haq also flagged another damaging pattern which is players getting harshly criticised and demoralised after a single bad performance, which he said makes it much harder for them to bounce back and rebuild their confidence.
For Misbah-ul-Haq, the real issue at the heart of Pakistan cricket is not talent, it’s the lack of patience, consistency and long-term planning. He warned against panic-driven, short-term fixes made under pressure, insisting that performances need to be properly analysed before decisions are made. Pakistan, he said, has developed a habit of reacting emotionally instead of planning strategically.
He held up India as a contrast, noting that its cricket system improved because the country stayed patient and stuck to its long-term plans rather than making knee-jerk changes. Misbah-ul-Haq also pointed to a structural issue: young Pakistani cricketers are playing too much white-ball cricket and not enough red-ball, four-day cricket, leaving them more likely to struggle under Test-match pressure. He noted that India’s rise since the 1990s came from steady, gradual investment in its system, not a quick fix.
Do you agree with Misbah-ul-Haq?
