Misbah on verge of becoming Pakistan’s most successful Test captain
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ABU DHABI: Misbah-ul-Haq can become Pakistan’s most successful Test captain in the three-Test series against New Zealand starting on Sunday.
The 40-year-old Misbah, who has led Pakistan in 31 Tests, needs just one more victory to surpass the team-record of 14 Test victories shared by Imran Khan and Javed Miandad.
Pakistan selectors have retained the same team that earned its first Test series win over Australia in 20 years by whitewashing Michael Clarke’s side 2-0 last Monday.
Given its recent record on the slow wickets of the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan could not have asked for better non sub-continental opponents than New Zealand.
Pakistan has won six out of the last seven Test matches in the UAE against strong teams like South Africa, England and Australia, losing just one to the Proteas.
“I am confident that we will play good cricket against New Zealand, and we should play that way,” Misbah had said soon after Pakistan recorded their biggest ever victory in terms of runs when Australia was beaten by 356 runs at Abu Dhabi four days ago.
The Pakistan captain silenced critics who accused him of being a defensive captain by smashing test cricket’s fastest fifty before equaling Sir Viv Richards’ world record of a 56-ball century.
Misbah and Azhar Ali scored centuries in each innings of the second Test against Australia, while Younis Khan smashed three successive centuries including a double hundred at Abu Dhabi.—AP
Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2014
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Comments (23) Closed
Nov 08, 2014 09:35am
He is amongst the greatest captains Pakistan has had, but to lay claim to "most successful", he would have to first win the World Cup.
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Nov 08, 2014 10:14am
He will get it.
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Nov 08, 2014 11:56am
@Shazia Bangash thats not a mature measure of success
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Nov 08, 2014 06:22pm
After making 100 slowest scores, making one fastest century does not count . .
Also Sir Richards scored fastest 100 when cricket greatly favoured fast bowlers, whereas now the pitches and ground greatly favours the batsmen . .
Also this test series with australia was fixed . .. in fact all cricket matches now are fixed - -- so misbah in my opinion is a pathetic cricketer and batsman -- and Javed Miandad is the greatest captain and Batsman
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Nov 08, 2014 07:16pm
@Shazia Bangash It's says best test captain. Not in terms of World Cup. Which us a one day tournament. So he can be best test captain but overall as a successful captain, he needs a World Cup
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Nov 08, 2014 07:34pm
@salman
Well,If the ground was so easy to play on how come we didnt see the australians bat well..hence proving that pitch was not that easy to bat on as you are implying...playing spin on slow tracks may prove even more difficult....moreover, saying all cricket matches are fixed....is a completely baseless statement..
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Nov 08, 2014 08:57pm
He is a long way to become the most successful. Comparing to Imran's who had only lost 8 matches out of 48, Misbah has already lost 9 in 31. Imran's teams played some really strong teams where as post great Australian team, there is no such great team today.
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Nov 08, 2014 09:20pm
give some credit to Misbah. he is greatest Captains Pakistan have and will had no question. Winning or loosing is not only criteria .We need to look when he became Captain and what support did he have from public as well PCB
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Nov 08, 2014 09:21pm
@ Salman...... So dear sir, you say Australia fixed this match with Pakistan and they deliberately lost????? Ha Ha Ha..... either think before u comment or don't comment at all.
People saying Imran played more matches and lost less. Well Imran did play half of the tests at home. Right? Whereas Misbah as captain has played none. This is a feat which we should realize and acknowledge. I will not say Who is better than who. All were good at their times b/c we know Pakistan rarely wins by the captains, they win if they want to win. Mushtaq Muhammad is another captain who brought aggressive approach in our team and it was under him that Imran Khan realized his true potential. So Mushtaq was a good captain too. Count him in the list of best pak captains as well....
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Nov 08, 2014 09:59pm
Misbah is the most selfish captain of Pakistan and the worst ever.
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Nov 08, 2014 10:01pm
@salman Support this view 100%.
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Nov 08, 2014 10:44pm
Good now just make him the captain for only Test matches as he certainly dont have what it takes to captain the one day side .. Shahid Afridi needs to captain t20 only and for one day we need to bring in new players without any seniors in the team so that that a new temcan transform and perform under pressure and politics that comes with these seniors.
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Nov 08, 2014 11:07pm
Misbah has done his best to the Pakistan team while adopting the Tuk Tuk strategy and now he has changed the strategy to Boom Boom . is this not enough to call him at least one of the best test captains Pakistan has produced in this era.
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Nov 08, 2014 11:08pm
@salman... I'm so surprised that Pakistani are such haters that even if he will bring the world cup, the haters will hate him. I feel sorry for such bitter people.
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Nov 08, 2014 11:17pm
Even chief selector Moin who is firmly in the anti-Misbah camp had to applaud him on his form and the victory. It is fine if you want to get rid of 'veteran' players like Misbah and Younis and want to bring in fresh blood for the WC, but who are their replacements? You need players who can carry an innings and rotate strike when wickets have fallen, and then during the death overs willing to take on the bowlers with cricketing shots.
Pakistan did manage to get to the semi-final in the last WC- can they do one better this time round? Can 'boom boom' Afridi do something to silence his distractors? Only time will tell. After the series against the Kiwis we should get an idea of the form and make-up of the team going into the WC.
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Nov 08, 2014 11:59pm
I am sorry but he has been consistently selected despite his failure. He has been consistently given chances and therefore he was able to win so many tests. In any good side, he would have been dropped long ago as a batsman too defensive and a captain too scared.
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Nov 09, 2014 01:46am
@Faizan Shaikh Very true indeed. Mushtaque Muhammad was one of the best captains Pakistan has had.
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Nov 09, 2014 01:48am
History is watching, he is already the greatest Test captain Pakistan ever had!!
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Nov 09, 2014 03:02am
thanks Allah Almighty,,,,Misbah is going to be succesful captain....hope he will not demand premiership of pakistan that too with dhurna of more than 3 months.
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Nov 09, 2014 03:18am
Misbah has done a good job with what he was given. Imran choose his own team. Miandad like Imran was a fighter.
What about Kardar and Mushtaq.
But the greatest Captain has to be Imran.
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Nov 09, 2014 07:02am
@Faizan Shaikh , He is lucky that he found UAE as home instead of playing in Pakistan. In Pakistan we have green tops or some dull wickets where it doesn't even spin. UAE wickets are more like indian wickets which suit Pakistan spinners better. 3-0 against England and 2-0 against Australia tell it all. Comparing Misbah to Imran as captain would be a pure joke as even the best out of best while chosing their world eleven of all times chose Imran as captain. For me Imran is no. one and Mushtaq definetly no.2.
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Nov 09, 2014 07:05am
@salman , you better start commenting kabadi Salman bhai.
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Nov 09, 2014 08:42am
2 wins against Australia in Dubai slow pitch will make him most successful test captain?
How about the Captains of Pakistan team that won many series in England?
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