Thought of retiring after Australia tour only: Misbah

Former Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq on Saturday admitted that he was about to retire from the International cricket after the disastrous Australia tour, but the encouragement given by the team and the management postponed his plans.

"Let me say that after the Australia tour, I was giving serious thought to retirement, but every player came to me and said that this is not how you have to leave cricket. They told me that I had to play the next series against the West Indies and that they would win and give me a proper send-off with victory as a present," Pakpassion.net quoted Misbah, as saying.

"To tell you the truth, the respect the team and its management gave to me is something I will cherish forever," he added.

In the three-match Test series, Pakistan had to face a humiliating defeat against Australia after which critiques began to question Misbah's capability.

When asked about who can carry the mantle of Pakistan team, the 42-year-old veteran said Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed, who have all played enough Test cricket, have the ability to fill the void after the retirement of the two celebrated batsmen - Misbah and Younis Khan.

"Now that both of us have retired, I look upon these three fine batsmen to carry on the mission and the role that we performed," he said.

"They have all played enough Test cricket and in my view, they can fill the gap left by our departure to guide the youngsters, who will be replacing us in the future," he added.

Misbah retired from the International cricket after Pakistan's first series win against West Indies in the Caribbean island.

Misbah played 75 Test matches, scoring 5,222 runs and is currently seventh on the list of Pakistan's all-time Test run-getters.

The 42-year-old also inspired Pakistan to the top of the ICC Test team rankings for the first time in history in 2015, although their stint at the top was short-lived as India replaced them soonafter.