Did a little statistical run on the captaincy numbers of IK, Javed, and Misbah and here are some interesting things that I found out.
1. Popular to contrary opinion, Imran never really had a great team with him. Only Javed had, the team that Imran left in the tour of England in 92. Imran himself was actually half the team and more than half the bowling. The first test that he captained had with him Tahir Naqash, and Sikander Bakht as lead seam bowlers.
2. Despite the fact that he lost his first series away to England in 82, which was a closely fought 2-1 win to England, Khan was named the player of the series.
3. Then came the dominant period in his cricketing career where he just blew Australia and India away at home. On pitches where Thompson struggled, Khan stood tall. He was good against Australia but what happened against India was almost unimaginable. In 5 tests, India lost 3 - 2 by an innings and one by ten wickets and all mostly due to Khan. 30 wickets against a star studded Indian batting line in 3 tests that Pakistan won - 11 wickets twice and 8 wickets once. Not even talking about the three that ended in draws. If anyone thinks that India wasn't a batting power house back then - you are mistaken. Gavaskar, Srikanth, Vishwanath, M. Amarnath, Vengasarkar, and Kapil are a daunting batting line-up even by today's standard.
5. In the series against India he felt shin problems and skipped the first three tests of the Australian series. His comeback as a batsman against Australia saw him play as a batting captain. A stubborn and probably wrong move because he remained unfit for the next two years. The fourth test of the series and Khan's first as a captain in Australia ended in a draw. The 5th one saw Australia beat Pakistan where Pakistan fielded an attack in which Mudassar Nazar was the third bowler. Yes, Mudassar Nazr the dibbly dobbly English seam friendly condition 5th bowler was our third seam bowling option. A case against Khan for being stubborn.
6. After that, Khan didn't play cricket for two years and came back against Sri Lanka only to have a drawn away series where we lost a test. This however was the time when Akram had started to play cricket and Khan had one reliable bowler after Qadir.
7. Next comes a patch where we went against the West Indies and didn't lose a series to them. Beat India in India, and England in England for the first time in our history.
8. From 24 Oct 1986 to 9 Dec 1989 - we played against England in England, West Indies in West Indies, and India in India, New Zealand in New Zealand and only lost 2 tests to West Indies - One home and One away and we had an even record against them where we beat them in two tests too.
9. Khan didn't win in Australia again and lost the Melbourne test in 1990 - and hence the checklist of winning a test against Australia as a captain goes unchecked.
a) Even his last series against WI in the 90's ended as a drawn series, while a win against Sri Lanka ended his test captaincy. Stalwarts like Wasim and Waqar - prepared, trained, and handed forward to the next captain. With baggage of course, but no wonder Wasim and Waqar still stand up for their captain even after 26 years.
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Annexure: Khan refused to play against New Zealand in a series when Hadlee pulled out. Miandad led Pakistan and duly thrashed the kiwis 3-0.
Key Findings: Khan may not have won a lot of away matches, and was stubborn, backed players like Manzoor Akhtar, discarded Qasim Umar, and called Younus Ahmed for one test in India and then discarded him again but during all his tenure, we had one somewhat of a bad loss to Sri Lanka away. 15 draws out of 26 away tests are super creditable. He didn't win a test as a captain in Australia - but as a player Sydney Test is a testament that he could win matches over there too.
Khan also left almost on his own terms with a world cup. He could have gone to England high on the world cup success but whatever reason that didn't really mature and Miandad led the team to a glorious summer of test cricket.
Javed Miandad Captaincy Career
1. Javed had 35% of his matches as away matches. The same ratio is 56% for Misbah and 54% for Imran. That said, Misbah has never captained a test on home soil but that is another debate.
2. As a captain, he has won a test in Australia. A series where Pakistan lost 2-1 but eventually won a test in Sydney - thanks to the good batting for once. Needless to say, Khan as a bowler in the series of three test matches took almost 16 wickets and was a major nuisance for Australia.
3. Khan and Miandad over home and away have a better cumulative record against Australia. No mean feat how the aussies have continued to dominate us over the last 18 years starting from 99 and world cup.
4. New Zealand and Sri Lanka suffered major defeats from Javed's hands. None of the teams were power houses and NZL without Hadlee wasn't something that Khan wanted to face.
5. Even though West Indies had the better over him, Miandad had the better of Australia, England, NZL, And SRL. That's like having 80% domination - 4/5 teams dominated on a home and away basis.
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Annexure: Miandad's reputation as a solid player who got underneath the skin of opposition has won him plaudits all over the world. It's almost a pity that his tenure coincided with Khan and there was almost a little invisible friction for captaincy in a way. That said, they two have moved from it and so should we. We won more than we lost during their time so not a big problem.
Player development at the end of Miandad's career was a difficult thing. The lobbies in the team were strong and he did lose his dressing room completely. The mutinies ultimately led to a not so graceful ouster of one of our greatest cricketers ever.
Misbah's Captaincy
1. True, when he got a team, we were in shambles. Possibly the worst position that we have ever been. So he gets bonus marks for that even before we do the analysis.
2. Started with two stodgy draws in South Africa. Never played a home test.
3. Won the first series abroad in New Zealand at the back of a manic away session in which Pakistan bowling tore Nzl apart like the glorious 90's.
4. Had a great opportunity to win a test series in west indies but couldn't. Lost a match.
5. A 12 match unbeaten run saw a dominating and crushing win over England. Created great anticipation for the away tour to South Africa. Saw losing 5 tests in the next 7. 4 to South Africa and one to Zimbabwe.
6. Loads of cricket against Sri Lanka - a good win in Sharjah was equaled by Sri Lanka when Mathews won the game in dying light. Dominated Australia like old times in UAE and England again. Had the highlight of his career at Lords - a century to go by winning a match but the number one bubble didn't even stay for a few months.
7. Bad away results - 3 zip in Australia and 1-0 in Nzl and one more loss against West Indies both home and away.
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Statistical analysis on Misbah's numbers shows that he has totally dominated England and Bangladesh. Has lost plenty of series and a couple of them have been pretty embarrassing. Misbah's biggest strength has been the resilience -- came back stronger once Ajmal was banned in test cricket and unleashed Yasir Shah. That said, the soft losses that we have had in his tenure are almost unforgivable.
Kinda quoting Warne - Misbah has played the same test 55* times. Bat first, build 450, choke the other opposition to 250-300, score another 300 in the second innings and win it in the 4th innings through Yasir or Ajmal. Tried doing the same in Australia in Melbourne, shouldn't have lost the Port Elizabeth test in RSA, and the losses against WI are almost criminal (both home and away).
Khan played 15 matches against India - home and away - and never even lost a single test. Won against England in England (a series), India in India (the first and only time in our history - and maintained a mental dominance over India that took years to full wear off, stood up to West Indies and made a team full of very average individuals very difficult to beat even in difficult tours.
Misbah's team has a losing percentage of 34%, Miandad 17%, and Khan 16%. Yes Misbah has won more test, but he also loses more and loses more often.
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[MENTION=135196]waleed88[/MENTION]
