KARACHI: Pakistan’s Test Captain Misbah-ul Haq on Friday called for life bans and strict enforcement of laws against the players involved in match-fixing or spot fixing in order to rid the game of the menace and ‘ugly things’.

“Anyone found involved in corrupt practices like this should be barred for ever from playing cricket,” said Misbah in an exclusive interview with Dawn here at the National Stadium. “Hard-decisions are required to be made against the culprits to safeguard the future of Pakistan cricket.

Veteran Misbah, now 42, has shown great spirit by leading Faisalabad in the Patron’s Trophy Grade II matches and has regained his form by striking back to back centuries against Hyderabad and Abbotabad ahead of the West Indies tour.

Talking about the recent spot fixing scam involving Pakistani players in the PSL, he said it is important to work on basics of the issue.

“To tackle the corruption issue, we need to work at the grassroots level on properly educating the upcoming players in schools and clubs,” he said. “We must ensure they know everything about the related laws and the authorities should implement the laws strictly.”

“Once the laws are enforced, any player committing any wrongdoing should never be allowed to play cricket. Otherwise it will be difficult for us to control corruption.”

Misbah, however, said he was not aware of the kind of proof that the PCB or the authorities have in the recent PSL scam. “I don’t know what sort of evidences the PCB ACU or ICC have against the suspected players and what procedures will they follow now.”

When asked if he as captain of Islamabad United ever smelled anything fishy, Misbah replied in the negative.

Recalling his long and successful stint as skipper of the Pakistan Test and ODI teams, Misbah who has played 72 Test and 162 ODIs, gave lot of credit to his players for the achievements made.

“During my seven years of captaincy, the efforts of the player were tremendous,” he said. “The way we achieved things, the manner in which the team progressed, all of them gave their hundred percent on and off the field and were much disciplined for which I must thank my players.”

The fact that Pakistan was bestowed with the ICC Spirit of Cricket Award shows how our teams performed both on and off the field and that was exemplary,” said Misbah.

On his future plans, Misbah said there is nothing definite. “But the upcoming tour of the West Indies might be my last. I am looking forward to secure the first series against West Indies on their soil. But it is a big challenge,” he said.

When quizzed further whether PCB has asked him to make a decision after the WI series, Misbah denied it and added: “PCB has given me this chance but they are not forcing me to leave. I am thankful to PCB for the respect they have given me and have left it totally up to me to decide my future in the game.”

Misbah, however, admitted that his wife and son were keen for him to continue playing international cricket. “My wife and my son love the game so much and want me to play on. They have honestly been great support for me.”

Responding to a question about not getting his due as the most successful captain of the country despite surpassing legends like Imran Khan and Javed Miandad, Misbah said he was not really bothered about it. “You play the game for your satisfaction, not for outdoing the others.”

“If people compare me with Imran Khan or Javed Miandad, then it is a matter of great honor for me. They were much greater cricketers than me because with their performances and victories, they enhanced Pakistan’s identity at international level and matched the best in the business.”

Commenting on the revival of international cricket in Pakistan in the wake of staging PSL final in Lahore, he said, this was one of the major steps in that direction.

“The country’s security situation is much better than what it was seven, eight years ago and I sincerely hope that international cricket could return to Pakistan in two years.

Assessing his battled-hardened image as a batsman, Misbah said: “My upbringing has a lot to do with my stoic approach. And the teams I represented were more dependent on me and I used to play bulk of overs and scored lot of runs to get them out of trouble.”.

“So I developed that approach in international cricket and whatever situation I faced came naturally to me. My philosophy was very simple, go out there and give your best.”

After tasting so much success, whatever happened to his team in New Zealand and Australia? Misbah was candid in his reply.

“Once you relax after achieving success, you start coming down,” he said. “In the Test series against the West Indies in UAE, the visitors gave us tough time throughout the series and later won the Sharjah Test. But we failed to realise what it had done to us because we won that series.

“In fact, that Sharjah defeate had dented our confidence a lot and we never recovered from there and could not be at our best in New Zealand and Australia. My contribution used to be massive in all the previous Test series but it was zero Down Under and that also had a huge affect on the team,” confessed Misbah.

Answering a thorny question about not quitting at his prime after the England series win, Misbah said: “Yes, I could have retired after the series against England in England or even before that in Dubai after the whitewash against England.

“I could have said, ‘Ok good, let’s quit after this victory and let the team face the music in New Zealand and Australia. In the past too, many players missed the tours to Australia and i could have done the same. But I could never be so selfish so as to leave my team all alone to face that stiff challenge. Yes I lost there as captain, but I didn’t desert my team and am proud of it.”

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2017