2010-2017: Misbah-ul-Haq was the only component keeping Pakistan in shape

[Rana]

Its probably the most accurate way to describe the current batting situation. We were an absolutely terrible batting unit that toured England in 2010. Nasser Hussain hit the nail on the head when he said "Pakistan cricket is an absolute shambles" after our poor display with the bat. The inability to deal with the swinging delivery, the short ball and good spin. The fact that we struggled to push the score. Everything about the Pakistan set up at the time was wanting change. Hence, Misbah's work as the captain and number 4- 5 batsman from 2010-2017 must be commended in the best way. He transformed a helpless batting unit by showing grit and determination, taking things slowly but affectively none the less and playing a pivotal role in anchoring the young batting side. The Pakistan Test team for once achieved success on a regular basis because Misbah's tenure as captain was possibly the first time in the history of the team that the Pakistan side found a close enough balance in bat, ball and fielding. The batsmen worked together in posting good scores, the bowlers did their job by backing them with regular wickets.

Watching this Pakistan side bat 3/4 innings in this series, especially on tracks that provide a lot more comfort to batsmen, it seems like we have gone back to where we started in 2010. Yes, its not just the loss of Misbah, Younis Khan the world class runs accumulator and especially a runs machine in the UAE is no longer here to guide the rest of the team. However, we must look at the individual performance of the others. Each batsman puts an individual price on his wicket, he must individually negotiate any challenge that is presented to him with the ball. Taking this into perspective, can we truly say that the individual approach of the batsmen playing today has honestly been a build up of what we learnt in the last seven years whilst playing for one of the strongest teams, a team that was near invincible at home (UAE)? Clearly not! The demons of 2010 have pretty much returned and the alarming thing about this is that these weaknesses have been exposed by a considerably mediocre side on tracks that are considered paradise for batsmen.

Dark and difficult times lay ahead.

 

[Syed1]

Like I said in the match thread.

Pakistan never collapsed when Misbah and Younis were around. We scored a minimum of 500 on the back of the performace of those two.


#MisYou

 

[Big Mac]

You're missing someone who may have helped a little bit

 

[IMMY69]

Missyou

 

[MenInG]

Well the others also have bats in their hands!

 

[Rana]

You're missing someone who may have helped a little bit

Bro I mentioned YK also. But you need to remember, YK on his own probably was not mentally capable of keeping things together as a leader due to his Prima donna antics with the PCB and other Players. Misbah's level headedness was brilliant for leading the country. Plus, he had no personal ego and was very respectful to the senior players who played under him. He mainly dealt with YK only, but players like Afridi and Razzaq who played under him in ODI's dont have a bad word to say about him either. In fact, the only guys who talk nonesense about him are those so called legends that actually have never won or achieved something huge for Pakistan besides their own huge fan bases, and have actually never played under his captaincy.

 

[Rana]

Well the others also have bats in their hands!

Clearly, they are individually well out of their depths at the moment.

 

[Kroll]

Look, it doesn't matter. MissYou were absolute ancient and they were going sooner or later. If the right selections, proper planning going forward, inducting promising players earlier etc etc had been implemented duringn that period, might not have been in the mess we find ourselves in now.

 

[Big Mac]

Bro I mentioned YK also. But you need to remember, YK on his own probably was not mentally capable of keeping things together as a leader due to his Prima donna antics with the PCB and other Players. Misbah's level headedness was brilliant for leading the country. Plus, he had no personal ego and was very respectful to the senior players who played under him. He mainly dealt with YK only, but players like Afridi and Razzaq who played under him in ODI's dont have a bad word to say about him either. In fact, the only guys who talk nonesense about him are those so called legends that actually have never won or achieved something huge for Pakistan besides their own huge fan bases, and have actually never played under his captaincy.

Agreed. The people who spent years saying we won't miss him, he's keeping all these amazing talents out of the team, UAE record is nothing to be proud of, we'll be better and more aggressive without him etc. are realising that they wasted years of energy hating when they should have been appreciating and enjoying Misbah's time as captain.