Moin defends team; calls tour 'satisfactory'

Moin Khan, the Pakistan team manager for the Zimbabwe tour, has defended the team saying that although they played badly in the two matches they lost, the overall performance was "satisfactory". He added that the team didn't need to apologise for the results as they had not lost the Test series.

"I don't think our level is falling," Moin said. "I think the conditions suited Zimbabwe team more than us. In both the matches that we lost (one-day and Test) we played badly. We didn't bat well in the second Test, but overall I would say that our performance was satisfactory.

"No, no need to apologise. We didn't lose the series. It was 1-1 and we won the T20 and one-day series."

After his appointment as the manager ahead of the tour, Moin had said he would not refrain from criticising the team, but when asked about the performance of specific players, he said that it was important not to "demoralise" the players and take measures to boost the confidence.

"I won't say that he is consistently failing," Moin said about Mohammad Hafeez, who had an ordinary Test series. "He did well in the T20s and one-dayers. He is a good performer but his batting was not good in Tests but he is keen and will try to regain his form."

Moin praised the performances of the team's seniors, highlighting the contribution of Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan. "Misbah's performance is very good. Younis ended up with the man-of-the-series award," he said. "If you look at our batting then seniors played their part. Misbah was there till the end but no one helped him from the other end."

Moin said that the coach, Dav Whatmore, will take necessary measures to overcome the mistakes made during the tour.

"It was not in my domain to plan things," he said. "Everyone makes mistakes and I am sure that Whatmore will be doing his best to overcome those mistakes. When you lose to a team like Zimbabwe you learn a lot of lessons."