As Pakistan completed an impressive 4-1 series against Sri Lanka, headlines were being written and TV shows were being structured as odes to Shahid Afridi. Without doubt, he was the man who defined the series, and won it for Pakistan; but in the midst of it all, one man was being overlooked. Rarely has a Pakistani captain had a better win record than Misbah, yet he is damned with faint praise, often with the phrase: “oh, he handled Afridi well.”
The public similarly has focused on Afridi, despite Misbah having lead the team to 5 unbeaten test series and the best record in ODIs in 2011 (although Afridi was the captain for the first half of them). He even led Pakistan home in the only T20 against Sri Lanka on Friday. The reasons for this apathy, though, are obvious. Misbah-the-captain is treated as such because of his association with Misbah-the-player and Misbah-the-man. Sure, he might have the record of Imran, but he doesn’t have his personality. Secondly, every Pakistani fan seems to believe that Pakistan are recklessly gung-ho and always have been, and Misbah is trying to remove that identity.
The mythology of Pakistan cricket states that Pakistan were another-ran till the late 70s when they discovered their mojo and have been an attacking team since then. Yet, the country’s greatest-ever team was built on the same defensive foundations that the fans seem to abhor today. The determination of Mudassar Nazar, Shoaib Mohammad and Iqbal Qasim was as important as the flair of Imran, Qadir and Javed. In the words of Rob Smyth, they were the water-carriers that allowed the aforementioned trio to walk on water.
The team of the 90s, admittedly, was attacking. But it had no other option. Mudassar Nazar was replaced by Saeed Anwar, the middle order of Inzamam and Ijaz (later Yousuf), and the most diverse and potent of bowling line-ups were attacking, because that was the only way they knew how to play. They were occasionally innovators (using Saqlain in the death overs), and often followers (the large number of pinch hitters used in the second half of the decade). Yet the 1980s team was a far greater Test side, and an equal in ODIs (Win-to-loss ratio of 1.25 from 1982 to 1992 and 1.22 from 1992 to 2000).
The first decade of this century – the lost decade – has been spent trying to play like the Golden Generation without the equivalent talent. Nothing better exemplifies this than the host of “attacking top order players” (Butt, Farhat, Imran Nazir, Hafeez and Kamran Akmal) that have failed on the international stage because unlike their precursor Saeed, and their contemporaries (Gayle, Sehwag et al) they have neither the talent, nor the application to succeed whilst playing ‘an attacking game’. Similarly, one-man armies of Shoaib (when fit) or Asif (when available) have failed to produce the results that their predecessors did, for obvious reasons. The only time Pakistan tried to remove itself from the 90s to route and back to the 80s was under Inzamam – and then, like now, the captain was repeatedly criticised for being too negative. (Remember the repeated assertions for Younis to replace Inzi as he was more ‘attacking’?)
Misbah, with the team that Waqar built, has been able to get Pakistan back to the 1980s formula: lay the foundations at the top – regardless of the format – and then proceed; when bowling, force the team to give their wickets away, rather than pursuing them. In the absence of bowlers the quality of Imran and Wasim, it’s the trio of spinners who are the stars. And each of the trio takes his wicket by choking the batsman until he submits rather than the swift blow to the head preferred by the stars of the 80s and 90s. But, this is a strategy acceptable to Pakistan only under Afridi, but not under Misbah, it would seem.
The indifference towards Misbah stems from his refusal to go for targets, firstly in the South Africa series last year, then again in the recently concluded Sri Lanka series. However, what he does is logical. A team with the history of poor chasing and collapses – particularly in fourth innings – has every reason to be cautious. Furthermore, isn’t that what Imran did? After all, Pakistan’s greatest captain – that paragon of aggression – drew more than half the matches he led. His reputation as the leader is built upon his captaincy in ODIs. But isn’t that what Misbah does: cautious in Tests, attacking in ODIs? In the age when 300+ scores are commonplace, his team have managed to restrict the opposition to less than 250 in all of his 15 ODIs; his captaincy in the last three matches when fielding was as aggressive as could be wished for.
Alas, it comes down to his associations though. He will forever be the man mockingly nicknamed ‘tuk tuk’. A product of the always-maligned domestic system who came good playing with his head rather than his heart, and relies on logic and emotion will never have the love of the public that his predecessor – as dissimilar a man to him as can be possible – had. In simple terms, his reputation as captain when compared with Afridi’s comes to the old adage: “Its 70 per cent how you look, 20 per cent how you sound and 10 per cent what you say.” What you do can change opinions but who you are, is what forms them.
The writer is a sports nerd, and does not believe that opinions other than his own are valid. He can be found presenting his opinions as fact on his blog and twitter.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
comon guys,misbah needs support..he is doing a wonderful job as captain…he was in the hot seat was pakistan cricket was in turmoil…he did a great job in uniting the team and also upgraded the whole performance of the team…i think this current team knows only how to win matches in any given situation and the srilankan series is the best example …am sure that misbah has put the pakistan cricket team’s image back on the right path when the entire world was staring at the pakistani cricketers as loosers..well done misbah..ur captaincy rocks and even made afridi to be a matured cricketer and infact the entire team knows wat their roles and responsibilities are….MISBAH HATS OFF TO YOU
Misbah has no record as a rising cricketer, he played all his young years as a domestic player, winninig one or two series doesnt make you a good captain, a good captain is one who can show performance on foreign soil and produce good results not in Sharjah or Dubai.He should have been retired at least five years ago , mediocricity is not role model.
We will never forget the World Cup Semi-Final when Misbah waited till the end to make sure Pakistan does not win. However he lofted a six in the final over to show the crowd he can hit the ball.
He also dropped an important catch like the other players to make sure Tendulkar and party scores enough runs to make it look a reasonable target..Did the same error in 20/20 World Cup with final in Indai.Paddle Sweep on the last ball???..I dont think he is a good player..something does not seem right here….
Am sure u wud have been happy if he had tried hitting and got out like all the other players did….If you are constantly loosing wickets at one end, its better to hold one end than to get out like others….yeh he played much slower than usual…..but its a game and errors happen from everyone……for T20, it was Misbah in da first place who brought us that close to victory, if it hadnt been for him, we would have lost that match by 20+ runs……its easy to blame than to realize the facts……It was a team game and the team played badly and lost……..End of Story……..
Misbah is a very good captain, with a cool head, the best we have had for so long. Good on him.
If AFRIDI plays the way he did the other day. May be he can be captain again, when Misbah goes, but not untill then
I would agree with Dr. N Ram’s comments. Misbah has been a level headed cricketer, not to forget his cool mindedness as well. It is a part of a game plan of to start with a slow pace and once settled in, to launch an assault in the last 5-10 overs of the game. Don’t we remember the Muhammad Yousuf, the wat he paced his innings. Afridi has been an adventurous players throughout his career, he plays a carefree cricket, which was acceptable in the days of his youth, but he is no longer a newcomer to the team, he has to lead by example and must curb his slam bang image.
This is ridiculous idea that your leader is coward and doesnt’ show his fighting skills till end
Do remember that it was the same Tuk Tuk guy who became the reason for our loss in Worldcup Semi final. Also do remember that it was Afridi who was declared man of the series and NOT Misbah the tuka tuk guy.
I agree – as much as I understand your love for Misbah, Mr. Cheema, Ahmad has a point. The reason for not priaising or jumping for joy for Misbah stems from the fact that he failed us at a very crucial time and that too for no good reason. Kinda difficult to forgive him for that.
Well, as per Afridi in the Post Match presentation “It was a decided policy that Misbah will hold one end while the other players go for quick runs”…………and “The advise came to take the PowerPlay but i decided to play another over before taking it”…….the end result was, UR boom boom got out on the last ball before the powerplay overs playing a rather Pathetic shot………..Am not describing Misbah to be correct here….but wht we need to understand is, it was the team game and the team lost…..simple as that…..u dont expect to drop 5 catches of Sachin and go on to win….Thanks to Wahab Riaz and Ajmal in that match that India werent at ease in scoring runs….otherwise…300 was on the cards…….So its better to claim the current successes and wish the team luck….!!!
Agree that he is a talented batsman and probably Captain but him being aggressive in ODIs is a million dollar question….It still hurts when he played tuk tuk in World Cup Semi-Final.
Misbah is a fine player with a balance of mind, while Afridi is not. Afridi is impulsive, lacks maturity when required most. As a lover of Cricket, I would say that the finest captains Pakistan produced were 1) Imran and 2) Wsim Akram, and Misbah is not too far behind though he may lack the charishma of both. But whatever it is, as long as he keeps winning, he is doing proud to his country. Let him continue to focus on his game and good luck to him.
Nothing wrong with the fans’ perception about Misbah. he is a different personality but the people are not naive. Pakistanis mostly understand cricket. he is slowly earning their respect and his fan base will grow with time and hopefully more success.
Lets just keep our fingers crossed…To early to comment.
i think its to early to comment about Misbah.Because of Afridi he have to show his performance and keep good record as captain just like Dhoni doing in presence of lots of match wining players.
I totally agreed with the writer
Red Salute to Misbah on his excellent leadership,leading the team from front.Cool and calm under every circumstances.Surely he understands and knows cricket much better than most of us,so no advise for me.He has developed and knit such wonderful unit that there could be 2 sets of Pakistan team playing at same time.
Keep up the wonderful job and we look forward to many more Pakistan cricket team victories in days to come.You are best in all department of the game.
The reason Misbah has good record is that he has the team under his grip. Misbah is a great politician and has been able to manipulate the situation quite well. He has almost the whole team under his lobby and has been playing his cards well. We should not forget how he succeeded as the Pakistani captain by plotting against Afridi with Ijaz Butt. After a mediocre test series he stated that he wanted to be the one day captain as well so that the team can perform well. This shows that he cares only for his personal interests and ignores the National Interest. The fact that he was the ONE who lost us the Semi Final against India and the fact that he is 37 years old with a very sorry fitness state makes MISBAH the worst choice of a captain
A well written and balanced article despite what TRAMP opines. Cricket is about pressure and it is abundantly clear that in the past few years that we have had captains and teams that cannot deal with pressure see afridi in key matches when it is necessary to win. to build a great team takes time and cannot be just turned around overnight. we need our young players to understands that they must be patient and focussed on achieving small steps of success and the key successes will then follow. The golden rule of competition is that you should be perceived as difficult to beat that then changes the mindset of the opponents. After all Pakistan has over the last ten years has been perceived as being mercurial but beatable. Misbah and mohsin are gradually making the squad more resilient and the Sri lankans underestimated which Pakistan was turning up. Lastly Misbah is the best available captain – who else is available and up to the task?
zomg we crushed zimbawe and ireland and drew with with lanka and the mighty windies and you guys don’t notice the misbah cuz he doesn’t look like boom boom, what do you know about kirkit!!!
The so called ‘Tuk Tuk’ innings in the Mohali semi final was what he was asked to do. Afridi says it in an interview himself that before Pakistan’s batting had begun we told him to play that type of innings to ensure the team doesn’t collapse, I should’ve taken Misbah’s advice and taken the Powerplay. But he didn’t. Not only did Afridi cost himself his own wicket but left Misbah to try and win with Riaz, Ajmal & Gul. Honestly. Wake up and appreciate what we have before it becomes what we had.
No doubt the Pakistan team has gradually started the climb up the ratings ladder in all 3 forms of cricket and a lot of credit must go to the sensible and stabilising influence of Misbah’s captaincy. All the more creditable considering the upheavals recently that could easily have decimated other National teams.
Nonetheless I await to truly gauge the progress that the Pakistan team has made when they play England in the UAE. I always score 0 on the ‘Tebbitt Test’ as a Pakistani living in London. Come on Pakistan! Give them a hammering.
Boom Boom Afridi, has revolutionized pak cricket
shahid afridi finally did what he want he get success.
:*
His game/role against India in the world cup needs to be investigated, period.
he was my class fellow till F.Sc…very gentleman, dowm to earth person and a true sports personality. He was best player of snooker and table tennis of our district Mianwali…he started cricket late but was very aggressive batsman.In one 12 over tape ball math, he hit 22 sixes…he changed his batting style when he started first class cricket…
most of them says misbah is the better captain which is 200% acceptible but some of them who dont accept sights that he is the reason behind for the losses against india in both worldcups.
remember in t2o finals it was him who brought pakistan from 73-6 to the verge of victory and he was playing with last wicket and last over in hand ,
and in mohali i think the culprit who made us lose the match ws younis he started to tuk tuk when we were good with the required runrate, and moreover he mounts the pressure on asad shafiq to play a risky shot while he was going on a good flow…and when you keep losing wickets on 1 end and hw wud want to play , do u ppl want to play like afridi all the time, pathetic…. even afridi as a captain made a blunder not wanting to take the powerplay when he was in and no other batsmen coming next and sending razzzaq above him… please praise misbah he also wants to give his best … move on man…u found cool and collective cricketing brain as captain at last…
Let’s get one thing straight.
The best captain Pak has had is Mushtaq Mohmammad: for 5 major reasons:
1. His win/loss ratio is 8/4 in 19 tests.
2. He was the first Pakistani captain, after 8 captains and 19 years, who won more games than lost and that too by a ratio of 2:1 (no one has bettered that than Miandad, for a captain with minimum 15 tests).
3. He changed the “rule” that after the first series all Pak-India tests must be drawn.
4. He visited Australia twice and never lost a series; Imran visited twice and lost both.
5. He invented reverse sweep; and greatly helped Miandad to follow his aggressive instincts.
The problem with majority of Pakistanis is that they do not really understand cricket, and are not educated to learn about facts and figures. The writer of this article is no different.
But I agree with his summation that Misbah-ul-Haque is definetly one of our best captains, as he has added value to team performance going through its worst history. What can be more aggressive than not giving up, so common with most Pakistani players, who as batsmen can’t take the pressure, and try to hit out of trouble – unsuccessfully most of the time; that’s why Afridi and Umar Akmal can’t be good test batsmen. The positive and successful performance of Misbah will Inshallah continue against the better teams such as South Africa and Australia.
In my opinon Misbah is not good for the team. ‘tuk tuk’ is a weapon he uses for himself, if not a captain he uses it to destroy pakistan but as a captain he uses it for himself to score runs and keep up his winning record. Its not far when Afridi, Younis, Shoaib and Hafeez in particular who is eyeing for the future captiancy will throw him out.
@ Syed Bokhari……….whtever success Pakistan is having currently, is somewhat b/c of the Captain i-e Misbah……….Pakistan lost those two matches b/c Misbah apart, no one stood firm to help Pakistan win……..Not even ur boom boom………it was a team game and the team lost…..Get over it and enjoy the current successes…….!!!
Very good and correct assesment. All forget that cricket is a team game, where the Captain is equivalent to two players, first the stratagist and second tthe player. Biggest problem Pakistan had after Inzi is that we did not have a CAPTAIN. We had good players but none had the qualities, our record proves it. The other problem we had was CORRUPTION/DISHONESTY/MATCH FIXING.
Hats off to ICC to stop corruption momentrily.
Hats off to Misbah to take a team MINUS experienced Amir/Asif/But and give the results so we can start watching cricket again….
Although Misbah ul Haq and party has done very well in the recent past for which credit must be given where it is due. Nevertheless, I will not consider him and his current ‘green-shirt’ team at par with the one led by the great Imran Khan and Javed Miandad as long as they can’t beat Australia in ODI, Twenty20 as well as test matches on the Australian soil including WACA stadium in Perth-Australia, by far, the fastest wicket and outfield in the world.
Don’t forget Afridi who gathered a scattered team before World Cup and converted it into a fighting 11. Misbah was lucky to get the same fighting 11. The only thing he puts is his defensive strategy. In my openion, a game is for entertainment and to keep it like that it has to be fighting. Why Afridi is so popular because of his explosive nature.
That is absurd! It was Misbah and Waqar in the new Zealand series that put the team together and instiled the wining spirit, which, was handed off to boom bust afridi that failed us. We should thank heaven for Misbah as a captain!!!
Mr. Juman, I don’t agree with you as the gathering of scattered team was not the credit of Afridi alone, Waqar played a vital role in it. Misbah also balanced Afridi’s agrression with his calmness as vice captain. Equal credit to Waqar and Misbah. Misbah got the team in tension when there were clearly two camps (Afridi camp and Waqar camp), it was Misbah’s credit to unite the team again.
Lets see what he does against Australiaz and Indiaz of the world. SL is going through a lean patch themselves so just portraying Misbah as genious after this series is not correct. Give him some tougher challenges and judge then. Dont forget his tuk tuk in the semi-final against india too soon.
nice to see that now pakistani realising that cool head is better than hot head.
Afridi is good player but not a good captain .
A very accurate assessment. Looking forward to a discussion regarding his successor on UJ’s wall soon.
well to be honest hassan people did have a problem with misbah the batsman but none doubted his cricketing brains and a lot more are warming up to his leadership qualities! To be fair most people were probably upset with the way shahid was handled rather than misbah’s appointment and to be honest in retrospect misbah’s appointment seems to be just what pakistan needed but at the time of his appointment there was no proof for that. Cheers to misbah and may he continue to excel
Good article, Cheema Sb. I think Misbah has done well. I dont know about his captaincy but his batting averages are certainly picking up.
Afridi will also be attributed with the success of this team because a lot of the current good work being done by hafeez (and others) was set in motion by afridi by realizing his potential and giving him the new ball to open the bowling in the worldcup. Hafeez is making a lot of difference so much so that Gul has hardly finished his quota of 10 overs in the Sri Lanka ODIs
Good one….All Misbah does actually is to bring the sense and sensibility to Pakistani team in both their actions and attitude… Hats off to to the bowling changes…
It is high time our players learn to speek less and display their deeds on the playing field?
They have in past been penalised for cheating?
The world does not condone betting?
Our commentators have to restrict comments on play in progress in field live,not copare their past glories which don’t exicist now or in past,with the aim of undermining the captancy or the upcoming players as a habit,if as a habit they still want to talk then talk of their affairs,in past and present?
very well written. I, myself was an anti-Misbah for captaincy (u know because of his “TUK TUK” reputation) in the beginning but the KING did prove me wrong. One thing i can say for sure is that his cool and collective attitude is definitely doing Pakistan good. LONG LIVE TEAM PAKISTAN! PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!
I think Misbah’s strategy to lead the team is very good.He does not impose himself on other players nor he snubs them in the ground therefore self esteem of the players is not being hurt which does not allow them to lose their confidence in the game.Senior players are being given importance and they are being consulted in every move which I think will make him the most successful captain in Pakistan cricket history.Another good thing of Misbah is that he avoids press statements and unnecessary comments which portrays him a gentleman player.A player need not to be outspoken,if he is,it invites criticisms for him which leads him deviate his focus from his performance.
though i always struggled to prove my point ; an excellent article gives me a shot 4m the past : this is the onli way to reconstruct the team upon which the new talent can afford to “walk on water” !! defence is the best offence and 1st learn to defend.then go 4 the wasim.waqar offence !! excellent article !
Hassan…is 1% inspiration and 90% perspiration. The pk teams and captains of late had forgotten that. The fact that a personality does not prevail over the team is actually good… maybe you should have celebrated that.
Well written and insightful. First time in a decade that Pakistan will figure in the top half of the 10 test playing nations. Even with Shoaib, Inzi, Waqar, Wasim, Yusuf and Saqlain in the side, Pakistan was rated a lowly 8th in tests about 10 years ago. And it was entirely due the reasons that the author described.
A nerd can only see what is in front of him and not beyond that. And, those who can – are visionaries.
Great article man
Misbah De Intellectual is worth comparing to Imran. His vision and foresightedness is what our cricket system is begging for. His target of becoming the top four test nations may be a possibility; this clearly justifies his appointment as a captain in all three formats (in my view). Cricket fanatics surrounded by emotions and misconceptions (sometimes) would never appreciate the organization, stability and balance Misbah has engraved on our players. Now, I see every player accept his responsibility and play according to the team plan.
Afridi never had a single vision, not only Afridi I seldom heard our former captains talk about their reach to the top. Afridi is just building up his reputation on his cheeky and adrenalin added performances, no doubt about that. Misbah, you the man!
Misbah has been more than a capable captain. Pakistan’s progression in cricket over the last couple of years is akin to the renaissance that the English team went through after Atherton. Under Michael Vaughn they started an unbeaten streak albeit over “lesser” opponents. After about a year of gaining confidence the same English team shocked the Aussies by reclaiming the Ashes. I foresee a similar ascent to the top of the Pakistani team with Misbah being the bridge to a more attacking captain in Hafeez.
your writing style is rubbish. it was neither sarcastic nor on the contrary. why cant it be an easy read for the readers.
A very good analysis
I absolutely agree Misbah is an excellent batsmen he basically formulates chases, he will stabilize the innings (as has been seen with at least 3 of our last one days) and when needed he will accelerate mercilessly, look at the last T20 for an example, Afridi did make a huge dent but it was Misbah that won us the game. People can whatever they want but hey we are number 5 in the ODI rankings and will continue to climb test rankings =) next stop England in Dubai IMO.
A sensible writing (that makes only 10% of the personality), I really enjoyed but fear many may not like it. We the product of hot and humid weather always like to hit hard and don’t fear losing the game (or anything). I wish we start carrying ice bags on our heads. May be we become more logical than we are now. We were inspired by great West Indians (at their good times) but never though how Aussies managed to win so many matches.
True, Misbah is a great captain and a great player, but only for his own tenure of captaincy. One can easily remember a great knock of Misbah in NZ when Ijaz But put both two captains on competition for WC. And once Afridi was named captain for WC then comes the laziest and most effort-less inning of Misbah against India in Semi-Final. Every Pakistani was hurt and no one can still make any sense of that inning. Now again when he is the captain for Test, ODI and T20 he is playing absolutely well.
Despite all the immaturities of Afridi, one can easily observe he has been always honest to his team weather in captaincy or not.
Hello. A really nice article. So true. Couldn’t agree more. Well written.
No glamour for Misbah. Why is that so ? He is certianly a better captain than Afridi; but who is here to acknowledge that. Public pressure i think is the problem. For us pakistani cricket is solely based on Afridi; thats bad very bad. I think we should cheer fot our new champ.
Truly heart warming to know that Misbah’s work is appreciated by at least one person in his country…thanks Hassan for being logical and not getting carried away by emotion!!!
Misbah has brought the calmness and stability to the team that was very badly needed. He also almost always stands up the team when needed in crunch situations. He must be reconized and appreciated for his batting and leadership skills.
Misbah & Misbah alone is responsible for Pakistan loosing two crucial matches against India, the final and the semi-final of the last World Cups. In the final he played most irresponsible shot and got caught when we were on the verge of victory and in the Semi-finals he unnecessarily played slow as if he was playing in test cricket. These were the world cups which mattered. Winning against weak teams is of no consequence.
@ Bokhari, Misbah and Misbah alone is responsible for taking both the matches till the final over. Infact was a shot away from victory in the T20 2007 Final. I think his only mistake was to why he kept on fighting, he should have gone for a duck in both these matches, i mean whats the use of grinding it out for your country when there are people like you out there who just spew nonsense.
I agree with you Mansoor , people like Syed Bokhari dont understand cricket. For these people cricket is like just go to bat and start hitting 4s and 6s. They dont know anything about a game plan, they dont know any thing about a steady innings. Ask these people when afridi was out in the semi final how many overs were remaining ? Ask these people why umer akmal kept on trying to hit for sixes when there were more than 10 overs remaining in the semi final and you have people like afridi and razzaq remaining. Sad to see our people have no sense of cricket anymore…they can only watch 20/20 and i think they should just stick to that.
Fact is that Pakistanis invested in 40 crore rupees in betting when Pakistan played against India in the World cup. Pakistan tried it’s best to win but Allah wanted to give Pakistanis a lesson not to gamble. Maybe in the future Pakistani rich will help the poor instead of gambling. It’s strange how people are Blaming Misbah for their loss?? why not blame themselves first for their actions.
Meaningless article with writer having no cricket understanding and trying to make sense out of generalizations that mean nothing. Poor effort.
Your english is very gutsy and beautiful…
By far the best captain since Inzimam. No questions about that. If deservedly praises are not showered on Misbah it is then very unfortunate. He has a good cricketing brain , keeps cool n relaxed. He has gelled the team into a respectable unit now. From here Pakistan can go only and higher provided the right tactics are followed and maintained. Hats off to Misbahul Haq who also speaks not only cgood but correct English