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Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq admitted Pakistan have 'same problems' with middle order. He said Pakistan were no closer to resolving their middle-order woes, days after they were beaten 2-1 by England in their recent T20I series.

Misbah said every game was vital as they build towards the T20 World Cup, to be held in the UAE in October.

"We are close to finding out our final combination. We still have the same problems, that our middle order isn't performing the way our top order is. We know 8-9 players of our playing XI as well as their replacements," Misbah said, at a virtual press conference.

"We have to view every game as important and improve our performance. England were a top team in difficult conditions, but we have to look at a roadmap for improvement. Of course, losses shatter your confidence, and we just have to try and build it back."

Pakistan appear to have settled on an opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan over the past year, two players who provide consistency but not power hitting.

Big hitters aren't as scarce for the side as they were in the past, with Sohaib Maqsood, Azam Khan, Sharjeel Khan, and Fakhar Zaman all in the mix. However, much like Asif Ali, Khushdil Shah, and Haider Ali before them, securing a position with regular performances has been difficult, adding to the batting line-instability.

"The results before the England series were much improved, we won 3 series in a row. [Mohammad] Hafeez has not been doing as well as he did last year, and other middle-order players are struggling. Overall, the team is better but if these two aspects of our game improve, then we'd be in a much better position,” he said.