Misbah warns young Pak players to work hard in order to meet international standards

Pakistan's departing skipper Misbah-ul Haq has warned the young crop of the nation's players that they are not up to par with the international standards and has called on them to work hard if they want to reach that level.

Pakistan would now be pinning their hopes on the next generation of cricketers after their World Cup campaign ended with a quarterfinal defeat to Australia. The 1992 champions lost their first two matches to India and the West Indies in the 2015 edition of the tournament before staging a comeback with four consecutive wins to earn a quarterfinal berth.

However, their six wicket loss to Australia in Adelaide ended Pakistan's World Cup campaign. None of Pakistan's younger batsmen, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood, could match veteran Misbah's style of play as he was their main run scorer with 350 in seven matches, The Dawn reported.

Misbah, who quit ODI cricket following Friday's defeat, said that it was necessary that the younger batsmen take responsibility, adding that they are talented players but maybe they were not made responsible enough to help the team.

The departing skipper claimed that if Pakistan's our cricket is to match international standards then their youngsters have to work hard, adding that they are the best performers in domestic cricket so they have to take the mantle from the senior players.

Misbah said that besides batting, fitness and fielding are two key areas where Pakistan's players have to work very hard because they are not up to international standards.

Misbah also claimed that maybe the lack of international exposure was hurting the batsmen so he has suggested to the Pakistan Cricket Board that they arrange more and more cricket for these youngsters because batsmen can only get better with exposure.