‘Pakistan does not belong at the bottom of the ICC table’

E-Paper | July 30, 2026

KARACHI: Former captain Javed Miandad Thursday urged Pakistan to focus on consistency after their one-day series win away to Sri Lanka.

Pakistan thumped the hosts by seven wickets in the fourth one-day international in Colombo on Wednesday to take an unassailable 3-1 lead ahead of the final match in Colombo on Sunday.

The win boosts Pakistan's chances of qualifying for the 2017 Champions Trophy in England but Miandad said the team must move on from the unpredictability of the past.

“Our team is looking good now but we need consistent work on it because we should belong to the top four. Nine-eight in the rankings is not our position and for that consistent work is needed,” said Miandad, one of Pakistan's greatest ever batsmen.

Miandad warned other teams were improving rapidly and Pakistan must take care not to slip back.

“We have to compete at the top level and with teams like Bangladesh and England showing great improvement we have to lift ourselves so that we can compete with teams like Australia, South Africa and India,” he said.

“Bangladesh has proved their rise by beating teams like Pakistan, India and South Africa so cricket is changing and to be in that race we have to rise consistently and stick to basics which we had not been doing.”

Bangladesh rose to seventh in the ICC rankings after crushing series wins over Pakistan, India and South Africa in home one-day series since April this year.

Another former captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, praised the team's dynamism, after some unusually athletic fielding helped them to victory over Sri Lanka.

“Pakistan have shown they are a vibrant team and has shown improvement in all three departments and that is a good sign,” he said.

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D_Hussain

Jul 23, 2015 07:00pm

A number 3 ranked test side definitely belongs in the top 5 ODI list.

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Asgher Ali

Jul 23, 2015 07:04pm

Miandad is right on the spot.

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Unshackle Pakistan

Jul 23, 2015 07:06pm

So Waqar is now a wonderful coach again? You give good players and the coach looks good. Without good players no strategy is going to save the day.

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Dilawar Khan

Jul 23, 2015 07:20pm

Sarfraz deserves number 4 as permanent position..

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Naveed Khan

Jul 23, 2015 07:58pm

Improved Fielding is a pleasant surprise. Well done, Pakistan.

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kkk

Jul 23, 2015 07:58pm

always treat to watch fast bowler from Pakistan .still remember wasim. bquar aquib and imran . when tandulkar played his first test series in pak we used to saw the matches on ptv Lahore black and white set. best wishes from a Indian fan

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ashu

Jul 23, 2015 08:18pm

@San"Deep" - some people can go very deep in their biased mutterings. Only goes to show how deep or shallow they think. I'm sure losing a series to BD and the revelations about deep rooted corruption in IPL was not enough to wake some up from their "deep" slumber.

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Blue Saffron

Jul 23, 2015 08:19pm

Well said Mr. Miandad. Team Pakistan can and should rise to the top.

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Sarwar, USA

Jul 23, 2015 08:23pm

@sandeep ..Watch for the below bottom position for India soon.

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expat

Jul 23, 2015 09:24pm

Watching Pakistani team is always a treat. We deserve to be in top 3 teams.

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Karamat

Jul 23, 2015 09:54pm

Please stop counting chickens before the eggs are hatched. Its only a couple of matches that we have won, that too against a friendly team which are in a similar rebuilding stage as us.

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AKB

Jul 23, 2015 10:43pm

@Unshackle Pakistan Agreed, Many were blaming Waqar Younis earlier. But he seems to have done a good job and moulded the side into a cohesive unit. He was a great fast bowler and now seems to be proving to be a great coach as well. But the real test will come when Pakistan tours Australia, England, SA and NZ and plays on their grounds. Misbah too needs to be credited with leading the side well despite his advancing age for a cricketer. He is a fine batsman and more importantly a great human being which is more important

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Blue Saffron

Jul 23, 2015 11:08pm

To be honest I am very pleasantly surprised how Team Pakistan has turned itself around so quickly. Maybe it is a weak Sri Lankan side but I will take the wins.

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Hassan

Jul 23, 2015 11:14pm

Amazing to see what young blood have done with the performance of our team. IA Pakistan will be a strong contender for the Champion Trophy. Best wishes for the team.

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Truth

Jul 23, 2015 11:45pm

Because of Waqar we did not qualify for world cup Q & SF. We are wining due to players which were rejected by Waqar. Sarfraz, Yasir Shah, Ahmed Shezad. Waqar must be sacked.

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satya

Jul 23, 2015 11:47pm

I don't think Bangladesh team is much improved side..all there recent wins have been on same ground.. They have played too much of ckt on 1-grounds..still they have just 2-4 avg team members apart from sakib..wc game was once a while show against England..

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Jul 24, 2015 12:04am

Pakistan on their day can beat any team anywhere. The tough part is that their days come very rarely outside UAE, Bangladesh and SL. I still think Pakistan will struggle in Australia, NZ, SA and even India. One big reason is bizarre selection policies. If you do a little research, Pakistan would have played the maximum number of new players in the last 5- 10 years. And then they just dump them in their twenties !!

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Hafeez

Jul 24, 2015 12:54am

Pakistan may have won a series against a SL who have just lost some of their star players but we are not recognising the new era of ODIs. The way we play, even if we don't lose a wicket i 50 overs, we wont score 350. You need players like Nauman and Mukhtar inducted in to OD team and then it is time to look beyond Asad Shafiq and Hafeez.

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Saeed Masood

Jul 24, 2015 01:17am

Please listen to Miandad...he is a world cricket hero.

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Pak patriot

Jul 24, 2015 02:10am

Retention in the team, should be based on present performance. This will automatically ensure, players are working at every facet of the game. Contract offered should also be based on performance. When the pay cheque is effecte, players will endeavour to perform.

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Faheem T

Jul 24, 2015 02:50am

Waqar Younis will never be forgiven for the appalling performance in the World Cup, no matter how many matches we win.

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Fakhir

Jul 24, 2015 03:03am

There is a forth department, teamwork. They have worked on it

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Safdar

Jul 24, 2015 03:13am

Real test will come when Pakistan plays England-Australia-South Africa in conditions outside Sub Continent/UAE

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Hasan

Jul 24, 2015 03:51am

For as long as you have parchi players like Shoaib Malik in the team, whereas brilliant players like Fawad Alam on the sidelines, we are never going to compete with top teams on foreign soils.

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musdassir

Jul 24, 2015 06:10am

veru true,. pakistan should be given No 4 status permanently

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osman

Jul 24, 2015 06:51am

we should train our kids to be mentally tough and focused on their goals. they get a bit of fame and lose their focus towards cars,girls, and drugs.

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N moon

Jul 24, 2015 07:55am

Few months back Pakistan was team of 250 runs because of slow middle order. Nowthey r are scoring 300 plus. This is post Misbah era. He took our team to 9th place. The so called anchor was anchoringthe team to the bottom. We use to hear that if Misbah does not score who will? ? Well who s is v scoring now??

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venugopal

Jul 24, 2015 08:27am

Blame it on inida and BCCI , this is a conspiracy of india as usual :-)

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Azam Qadeer

Jul 24, 2015 10:11am

if we keep politic out of game and enjoy the game it will be good. also if we can manage to get away from perchi system our nation could be#1 in the world as well

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Majid

Jul 24, 2015 11:36am

Pakistan is winning so Long till we see Akmals in the Team.

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neo

Jul 24, 2015 02:17pm

The team of old had some sympathy or WC only selections....... -Misbah, Younis k and Afridi.... These guys have a given a great service, but clearly its evident - they were from an era/fitness which had passed them by, coupled with the fact we lost Ajmal and Irfan. This team at least has age and fitness on its side, with some budding talent...the performance is shared rather than 1 or 2 key performers. This could change in the bowling with the edition of Wahab and M Aamir.

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