Is Misbah-ul-Haq the absolute worse thing to happen to Pakistan cricket ever?

[The_Odd_One]

I am flabbergasted by the comments of Misbah-ul-Haq and his defenders after his appalling start to his international coaching and international selection careers.

Let's just rewind, shall we?

1. Misbah captained an elderly and underperforming international team.

2. As soon as he retired, Mickey Arthur rejuvenated the white ball teams with young blood, and results improved massively.

3. Misbah engineered the departure of the Head Coach Mickey Arthur.

4. Misbah then applied for BOTH that job - for which he had zero experience at any level - AND the Chief Selector position, and obtained both.

5. He then replaced young players with much older ones, and obtained far poorer results than Mickey Arthur. Goodbye youngsters, hello Iftikhar, Shehzad and Akmal.

And now he tries to shirk responsibility, saying "I didn't coach right-handers to become left-handers".

I'm very sorry, but if you become the most powerful cricket supremo ever, both Head Coach and Chief Selector, the Buck Stops Here.

Misbah is 100% responsible. End of.

Misbah won more series with "older" players.

Sarfraz and his young comrades lost 14 games in a row, failed to make the final of Asia cup which had one strong team, got whitewashed by Australia C. Lost a home series to NZ in over 40 overs.

 

[MenInG]

GUJRANWALA: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-10th Oct, 2019) A civil suit has been moved to a Gujranwala Civil Court against National Cricket Team’s head coach and chief selector Misbahul Haq for drawing Rs 3.2 million salary from the national exchequer.

Manzoor Qadir, a local lawyer, submitted an application before a civil court and made PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani and cricket team’s head coach and chief selector Misbahul Haq.

The petitioner objected to the salary of the head coach, saying that it is huge salary and an orphanage could be open with such amount anywhere in the country. He said public money should not be wasted like this. He stated that every Pakistani was getting affected with such huge salaries and expenditures of Pakistan Cricket Board.

The petitioner suggested that the salary of any office bearer of Pakistan Cricket board should not be more than Rs 500,000. He further said that Pakistan gave identity to Misbah ul Haq and now it was time that he should have rendered his services free for the country. He asked the court to allow his plea against huge salary of Chief Selector of national cricket team and other officials of Pakistan Cricket Board for the larger public interest.

The court accepted the petition for regular hearing and summoned PCB officials to explain their position on Oct 15.

https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/bad-news-for-misbahul-haq-a-court-moved-agai-733269.html

 

[Majid Khan]

I think Misbah is a great guy and like him as a person, as a player in the way he performed for the team in crisis situations and handled himself on and off the field , I also think he’s shrewd and has a great understanding of the game and hope he will deliver as coach.

That is all good and well but where I have a problem is when people start thinking of Misbah in the same way that traditionally in villages in Pakistan in the Punjab there was always a ‘syaana banda’ (wise guy) who everyone would go to and ask him for advice to solve any problem, be it related to legal matters, land disputes, relationship/family problems, religious or political matters — this ‘syaana banda’ was to have the right answer to everything.

You feel like Misbah is now the ‘sayaana Banda’ of Pakistan cricket and PCB have him as coach, chief selector, committees deciding first class cricket structure, deciding who to sack and who to appoint in key positions, and probably how to run women and school level cricket too.

Give the guy a break and don’t make everyone turn against him by giving him every responsibility related to Pak cricket.

 

[Mainul]

My answer is Yes. He has done more damage than good to Pak cricket. One thing I want add to those 7 ponts. He made two mediocre players to build a long career in Pak Jersey - Azhas and Asad when there were much better players available.

 

[saeedhk]

Misbah is a timid guy. Worsened Pakistan in his days as captain. One of the most boring personalities also. After the 3-0 whitewash, this guy was giving sarcastic replies to every question during the press conference. And he’s being paid 28 lakh.

 

[Paka Lahori]

No. The absolute worse things that happened to Pakistan Cricket were Ahmad Shahzad, Umer Akmal, Kamran Akmal, and Faisal Iqbal.

 

[Rayyman]

Misbah has been terrible

Retaining Sarfraz as captain

Bringing back TTFs

Now making Azhar Ali captain

 

[Titan24]

Misbah has been terrible

Retaining Sarfraz as captain

Bringing back TTFs

Now making Azhar Ali captain

Retaining Sarfaraz was a really poor move, including Umar and Shehzad turned out to be a bad move while Azhar is the only reasonable choice for test captaincy at the moment.

 

[Shazzam]

Its quiet funny how I don’t see him doing well in his greatest format Tests either when he appointed Azhar Ali the captain. Oh well time to get some popcorn to enjoy the fireworks.

 

[shariqnoor]

Pakistan will in all likelihood lose the Australian T20 series 3-0 and the blame will be put on Misbah.

Mickey Arthur with his number 1 T20 team would've been thrashed in Australia as well, there's no doubt about it. Out of 15 T20I that were played away from home in Mickey's time, Pakistan won 10 out of which 7 came against the likes of West Indies, Scotland and Zimbabwe.

The problem is not in who's the coach. The problem is that the team is mediocre. You can either be realistic and accept that or you can keep deluding yourself into believing that Mickey Arthur was a great coach.

The way our batsmen capitulated against Hasaranga's googlies (especially the talentless Sarfraz) and Rajitha's opening spells, no coach could've done anything about it.

And to be honest, had SL brought their A team, Pakistan would've probably won. Our players have a knack of making debutants heroes and generally struggle against those who they haven't seen before. The result would've been same under Arthur too.

 

[Blistering Barnacle]

Misbah is the worst thing to happen to Pakistan cricket since I started watching 30 years ago.

I remember going through phases of disgust over Inzi's captaincy in his later years and the terrible loss to Ireland and bob woolmer and Inzi's bad captaincy tactically but that was a walk in the park compared to the fiasco of Misbah - who just won't go away. The man inserts himself into every aspect of cricket it seems, as if he's a man of Warne or Waugh's stature in Australian cricket.

As for those saying the spot fixing was the worst thing, please, let's keep things in context. Obviously things like that are worse...but within the realm of the normal game is what I'm referring to.

Misbah's record as captain across formats if there for everyone to see.....where we ended up in the rankings is there for everyone to see.

His awful commentary/suggestions/advice during the last world cup was there for everyone to see.

Why this man would be appointed to the dual posts of coach and selector, I have no idea. And on top of that this guy was on the committee that made the decision to sack Micky. It is astounding.

So just to reiterate, not only is this person unqualified to be the coach, he is the former captain who took Pak to horrible depths in the rankings, who performed criminally in the Mohali match, and who was part of the committee who sacked his predecessor before he threw his hat in the ring for the position.

Yet people apparently still think he's some kind of saviour! Pak cricket deserves all the (dis)respect it gets! No effort is being made to clean it up either.

What a joke!

 

[Maliq_Mudasir]

Hahahahha its funny you brought WC in the argument. The WC performance in 2015 was the worst in Pakistan history under the captaincy of Misbah the saviour.


Sarfaraz won a world tournament that alone qualifies him as a better captain than Misbah.

Lol you are talking as if Sarfaraz is Gilchrist of Pakistan. Sarfaraz and Misbah are the two worst things happened in the history of modern cricket.

 

[coy0607]

Maybe not the worst, but certainly the dullest things to every happen to Pakistan cricket.

But that itself is tough- you can recover from being bad, but you can’t recover if your brand is boring and the fans go away

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Misbah is lucky that there is less cricket for Pak in the coming year. Having said that he will lose every single series and still hold on to the job shamelessly saying domestic cricket is the reason for all his failures, which is quite normal for him. We will see the return of many oldies and TTFs saying that he wants to give chance to everybody before writing them off at the cost of losing series after series and hit the bottom of the rankings.

 

[ManFan]

His Gandolf Beard Act fools no one with a pea-sized brain.

Always has been a cancer to our sport and will always remain so.

Disgusting yes-man that loves to kiss up and has ZERO imagination.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

If we take out fixers then yes he is.

Singlehandedly responsible for kids losing interest in cricket.

As my friend used to say "Misbah ki waja sai bachun nay cricket dekhna chor di hai" So damn true!

 

[coy0607]

If we take out fixers then yes he is.

Singlehandedly responsible for kids losing interest in cricket.

As my friend used to say "Misbah ki waja sai bachun nay cricket dekhna chor di hai" So damn true!

Powerful words!

 

[Shazzam]

As my friend used to say "Misbah ki waja sai bachun nay cricket dekhna chor di hai" So damn true!

Won’t be surprised in the next three years our cricket gets destroyed slowly.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Won’t be surprised in the next three years our cricket gets destroyed slowly.

It is on its way with Misbah and Waqar at the helm.

All this talk about this Leicester guy Wasim Khan and he came with Misbah and Waqr duo? What a shame!

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Powerful words!

Yep, hell of a boring cricketer this guy.

 

[Mamoon]

I thank him for getting rid of Sarfraz’s pathetic mediocrity. The incompetent Ehsan Mani and that con-artist from the UK clearly didn’t have the sensibility to sack him, which is why they reaffirmed his position while sacking Arthur.

Say what you want about Misbah, but he managed to see through Sarfraz’s circus act very quickly.

 

[Abdul]

Yep, hell of a boring cricketer this guy.

A thousands times the cricketer beghairat Sarfaraz ever was.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

A thousands times the cricketer beghairat Sarfaraz ever.

Yet Sarfraz has more achievements than Tuk Tuk ever will despite being the God Father of Pakistan cricket.

 

[Khan12]

A thousands times the cricketer beghairat Sarfaraz ever was.

How about Babar?

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

A thousands times the cricketer beghairat Sarfaraz ever was.

As you have used the word beghairat but as you are living in Canada and speak Punjabi and English and hardly knows Urdu so i will give you a hint what beghairat actually means: Misbah and his shambolic politics. Rang a bell?

 

[Khan12]

Yet Sarfraz has more achievements than Tuk Tuk ever will despite being the God Father of Pakistan cricket.

As much as i don't like sarfraz i will him have over shameless misbah anyday.

 

[Abdul]

As you have used the word beghairat but as you are living in Canada and speak Punjabi and English and hardly knows Urdu so i will give you a hint what beghairat actually means: Misbah and his shambolic politics. Rang a bell?

The only real beghairat is Sarfaraz who should have seen the writing on the wall and decided to resign from captaincy instead he waited for Misbah to sack him. It must sting you that the person you hate the most kicked out the person you love the most and showed him his aukat.

I will forever be grateful to Misbah for getting rid of this fat clown.

 

[Khan12]

The only real beghairat is Sarfaraz who should have seen the writing on the wall and decided to resign from captaincy instead he waited for Misbah to sack him. It must sting you that the person you hate the most kicked out the person you love the most and showed him his aukat.

I will forever be grateful to Misbah for getting rid of this fat clown.

Imgine that fat clown has more achievements as well as an odi century which shameless misbah didn't get one in his whole career while the person you hate the most Babar has already got 11 which misbah didn't even get in 30 odd years of playing cricket.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

As much as i don't like sarfraz i will him have over shameless misbah anyday.

Yeah no problem in disliking Sarfraz and frankly his form was so poor that sacking him doesn't sound out of the world. Plus Rizwan deserves a chance over him. You have to reward the guy. But tuk tuk fans are doing bhangra as if he led them to World Cup victory. Dark times ahead with Tuk Tuk favorites llike Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez. Thankfully we have Babar, Haris and Abid and i might follow Pak cricket for them.

 

[Khan12]

Yeah no problem in disliking Sarfraz and frankly his form was so poor that sacking him doesn't sound out of the world. Plus Rizwan deserves a chance over him. You have to reward the guy. But tuk tuk fans are doing bhangra as if Misbah led them to World Cup victory. Dark times ahead with Tuk Tuk favorites llike Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez. Thankfully we have Babar, Haris and Abid and i might follow Pak cricket for them.

Lets not forget rahat ali, imran, etc. I used to tell you bro that misbah is a shameless guy and is allergic to youngsters. Tbh, i watched cricket when babar, haris and abid are batting and when shaheen is bowling.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Lets not forget rahat ali, imran, etc. I used to tell you bro that misbah is a shameless guy and is allergic to youngsters. Tbh, i watched cricket when babar, haris and abid are batting and when shaheen is bowling.

Yep i forgot them. Imaran Khan Sr? Wowwwwwww.

This guy is allergic to youngsters thats so true. Man goodbye to youngsters now

 

[Khan12]

Yep i forgot them. Imaran Khan Sr? Wowwwwwww.

This guy is allergic to youngsters thats so true. Man goodbye to youngsters now

They should look for an alternative career as shameless misbah has already said pakistan team isn't a laboratory. Imagine imran khan sr, rahat getting picked over Nassem shah.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

They should look for an alternative career as shameless misbah has already said pakistan team isn't a laboratory. Imagine imran khan sr, rahat getting picked over Nassem shah.

Hafeez and Malik comebacks are on the card too.

 

[Khan12]

Hafeez and Malik comebacks are on the card too.

And they will be replaced when they flop with Akmal and Shehzad and he will say we gave new players a chance.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

And they will be replaced when they flop with Akmal and Shehzad and he will say we gave new players a chance.

Hahah we saw that recently.

 

[Mueez]

If we take out fixers then yes he is.

Singlehandedly responsible for kids losing interest in cricket.

As my friend used to say "Misbah ki waja sai bachun nay cricket dekhna chor di hai" So damn true!

I’m not following Pak matches that much since he has taken charge...

I’ve loads of respect for Misbah the cricketer but as a coach he has a lot to learn.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

The only real beghairat is Sarfaraz who should have seen the writing on the wall and decided to resign from captaincy instead he waited for Misbah to sack him. It must sting you that the person you hate the most kicked out the person you love the most and showed him his aukat.

I will forever be grateful to Misbah for getting rid of this fat clown.

Lol you are abolsutely right. Misbah was the only one with the balls to sack usless sarfraz from captaincy. And misbah was a great captain and good player. I seriously don't understand sarfraz fans like [MENTION=143023]SarfiBabarHaris[/MENTION] LOL!

 

[Usman Chadda]

Misbah will either not last long or pretty much destroy our will to watch Pakistan cricket.

Sacking Sarfraz will be the highlight of his tenure, which is bound to end in tears pretty soon.

 

[iPakistani]

Thank God for Misbah getting rid of Sarfraz, brilliant start to his tenure.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Tuk Tuk while being in the cricket committee made Babar Azam as captain of Central Punjab where Azhar featured as a player but now made Azhar captain of the test team and Babar is featuring as a player.

All hail the legend!

 

[coy0607]

Misbah will either not last long or pretty much destroy our will to watch Pakistan cricket.

Sacking Sarfraz will be the highlight of his tenure, which is bound to end in tears pretty soon.

that what people said when he became ODI captain, and he ended up torturing us for years.

I don't think he is going anywhere soon - Wasim Khan has no incentive to admit his mistake so early.

 

[Usman Chadda]

that what people said when he became ODI captain, and he ended up torturing us for years.

I don't think he is going anywhere soon - Wasim Khan has no incentive to admit his mistake so early.

Then he is probably going to end up alienating a lot of Pakistan cricket fans. This will be ugly.

 

[asfandyar]

I am pleasantly surprised by Misbah's decision to remove Sarfaraz, and I hope he will follow suit with Shahzad, Akmal and other non-performing players.

Pakistan has suffered more from TTFs being given a long run than from new talent not being tried. I am from Karachi, and a certain group of people here has a victim mentality. Sarfaraz's exclusion was fully justified. Hope he will come back stronger.

 

[Danyaalr01]

I am pleasantly surprised by Misbah's decision to remove Sarfaraz, and I hope he will follow suit with Shahzad, Akmal and other non-performing players.

Pakistan has suffered more from TTFs being given a long run than from new talent not being tried. I am from Karachi, and a certain group of people here has a victim mentality. Sarfaraz's exclusion was fully justified. Hope he will come back stronger.

He might have sacked Sarfaraz but then goes on to, according to reports, pick Irfan, Rahat and Imran Khan sr.

 

[asfandyar]

He might have sacked Sarfaraz but then goes on to, according to reports, pick Irfan, Rahat and Imran Khan sr.

Irfan is the new leg-spinner I think. Imran Khan's selection is a surprise. He hasn't set the stage on fire recently. Rahat was not selected. Musa Khan's selection may backfire.

 

[Danyaalr01]

Irfan is the new leg-spinner I think. Imran Khan's selection is a surprise. He hasn't set the stage on fire recently. Rahat was not selected. Musa Khan's selection may backfire.

No he's picked lambu Irfan.

 

[gazza619]

Our cricket now feels like a headless chicken.

Think misbah will continue with these random picking and dropping and in process might make or break some careers.

 

[Abdullah]

Our cricket now feels like a headless chicken.

Think misbah will continue with these random picking and dropping and in process might make or break some careers.

At least he is making decisions. He fired sarfaraz and has picked these young quicks, just throwing them in. The batting picks itself in tests. The only issue I have is the fast bowling all-rounder, which only works with shadab

 

[DRsohail]

I think yes, once again.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

If we take out fixers then yes he is.

Singlehandedly responsible for kids losing interest in cricket.

As my friend used to say "Misbah ki waja sai bachun nay cricket dekhna chor di hai" So damn true!

Leading us to another era of darkness and booriyat.

Someone ask him why he accepted the coach role when he himself was in the committe who removed the last coahc?

 

[Shafi]

Misbah will destroy whatever left in our cricket. Shame on the shameless guy along with mr. genius/hyped up/so-called extraordinary highly educated and good for nothing Wasim Khan.

 

[Shafi]

Leading us to another era of darkness and booriyat.

Someone ask him why he accepted the coach role when he himself was in the committe who removed the last coahc?

Money!!!!!
People should not be bluffed by Misbah's present appearance. This guy was never good for our cricket and with the dual role he will even destroy our cricket more.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Misbah will destroy whatever left in our cricket. Shame on the shameless guy along with mr. genius/hyped up/so-called extraordinary highly educated and good for nothing Wasim Khan.

Wasim Khan is all talks till now. In whole world he found only Misbah suitable for 3 important roles. Masha Allah what a quailified man!

 

[Kroll]

It's going to be another dark and torturous era of 4+ years unless the right thing is done and he's booted the sooner the better.

It's not 2010, when fans were prepared to give him the long rope due to circumstances but he out stayed his welcome even then.

It's a disgrace that he's helping himself to a lavish salary whilst at the same time destroying what good cricket we had left.

 

[Shafi]

Wasim Khan is all talks till now. In whole world he found only Misbah suitable for 3 important roles. Masha Allah what a quailified man!

According to some people he left Uk with better offer for the betterment of Pakistan cricket. But all his decisions are copy paste which will never succeed in any country.

Every country has their own culture and style and following someone blindly without having any knowledge or without understaning whether its implicable or not to that country is simple disasterous.

 

[Shafi]

Also so far Misbah didn't make any single stament of his justification for the last 2 matches means he doen't need to answer anyone for the team performance

 

[shariqnoor]

Again people starting to find scapegoats. This is almost the same batting lineup that Sarfraz and Mickey was playing.

The only difference is that Malik and Hafeez were there. We all know how Malik would've fared against the likes of Cummins, Starc, Richardson in Australia. Then you had a captain in Sarfraz who couldn't score a run.

So to expect that this same batting lineup would've competed against Australia in Australia under Mickey and Sarfraz is another delusion on the part of Pakistani supporters.

Pakistan desperately requires 3 quality batsmen and 3 quality bowlers to stand a chance of even competing against the best.

This is not an issue of who's the coach. Any coach with this team would've surrendered meekly.

 

[Shafi]

Again people starting to find scapegoats. This is almost the same batting lineup that Sarfraz and Mickey was playing.

The only difference is that Malik and Hafeez were there. We all know how Malik would've fared against the likes of Cummins, Starc, Richardson in Australia. Then you had a captain in Sarfraz who couldn't score a run.

So to expect that this same batting lineup would've competed against Australia in Australia under Mickey and Sarfraz is another delusion on the part of Pakistani supporters.

Pakistan desperately requires 3 quality batsmen and 3 quality bowlers to stand a chance of even competing against the best.

This is not an issue of who's the coach. Any coach with this team would've surrendered meekly.

No!!!!
That team didn't have Irfan, Wahab, Umar, Shehzad, Asif.

 

[Afhan Ali]

No!!!!
That team didn't have Irfan, Wahab, Umar, Shehzad, Asif.

Shahzad is better than Fakhar
Wahab is better than Faheem/Hassan/Shinwari
Umar is better than Asif and Rizwan( in t20s only)

 

[Rellu_Katta]

the gutter-man (as a coach) and akmal brothers are def the worse thing to happen to pak cricket in this decade

 

[octavian]

I would argue that the worst thing to come out of the 2009 fixing scandal was the captaincy of Misbah.

Nothing, absolutely nothing has harmed Pak cricket more than Misbah.

 

[Mamoon]

Again people starting to find scapegoats. This is almost the same batting lineup that Sarfraz and Mickey was playing.

The only difference is that Malik and Hafeez were there. We all know how Malik would've fared against the likes of Cummins, Starc, Richardson in Australia. Then you had a captain in Sarfraz who couldn't score a run.

So to expect that this same batting lineup would've competed against Australia in Australia under Mickey and Sarfraz is another delusion on the part of Pakistani supporters.

Pakistan desperately requires 3 quality batsmen and 3 quality bowlers to stand a chance of even competing against the best.

This is not an issue of who's the coach. Any coach with this team would've surrendered meekly.

The worst thing that can potentially come out of this is Sarfraz looking good. His so-called number 1 T20 team was in for a reality check at the WT20 next year.

There is no way we were going to prove ourselves to be the best team when all the other sides were also going to take the format seriously.

T20 international cricket was basically dead between the last World T20 and the ODI World Cup. That is when we made hay.

With or without Sarfraz and Mickey, Pakistan is at best a 4th or 5th best side. India, England, Australia and New Zealand are all comfortably better when they play their full-strength sides and channel their energies into the format.

South Africa are in shambles at the moment though, but they are still fully capable of producing a better squad than Pakistan.

 

[Shazzam]

He’s leading us to another twenty20 whitewash. Keep em coming Misbah.

 

[Shafi]

The worst thing that can potentially come out of this is Sarfraz looking good. His so-called number 1 T20 team was in for a reality check at the WT20 next year.

There is no way we were going to prove ourselves to be the best team when all the other sides were also going to take the format seriously.

T20 international cricket was basically dead between the last World T20 and the ODI World Cup. That is when we made hay.

With or without Sarfraz and Mickey, Pakistan is at best a 4th or 5th best side. India, England, Australia and New Zealand are all comfortably better when they play their full-strength sides and channel their energies into the format.

South Africa are in shambles at the moment though, but they are still fully capable of producing a better squad than Pakistan.

Fully agree but our team will not even n.10. Teams like Ireland, Scotland or Nepal are capable of beating current team under Misbah.

 

[Boiz Played Well]

No, winning the 1992 World Cup was the worst thing that happened to Pakistan cricket. It destroyed our mentality and our cricket culture. Had we won the 1987 World Cup instead, which we should have, Pakistan would have been a more professional outfit today. Winning the 1992 World Cup made us believe in the whole unpredictability and cornered tigers crap that has ruined our cricket.

We simply don’t know how to construct a team and do not understand the process of success. As a result, we rely on fluke results. Winning the 1987 World Cup would have ushered an era of professionalism. There was nothing unpredictable and our tigers were not concerned - we played professional cricket with a very strong team, dominating all but one match and there was a pattern to our success. Too bad it all went south in the semi-final.

The 1992 fluke has proved costlier than anything Misbah has done or might do. He himself is a product of unprofessionalism (in terms of his understanding of the game, not personality/attitude) that is rooted in the 1992 World Cup.

This is a very interesting perspective on the whole cornered tigers and unpredictability debate which has become quite boring at this point. Thanks for pointing it out.

I don't know if the unpredictability myth is solely the result of the 1992 win and Pakistan couldn't have done anything to recover since. Sri Lanka's 1996 win was in some ways a bit flukey as well but they used that to build a team that was going from strength to strength quite consistently from the 2000s to the early 2010s.

But had Pakistan won in 1987, we would definitely be looking back fondly at Pakistan cricket myths which would've been healthier than "we are unpredictable and that's what is special about us".

 

[Mamoon]

This is a very interesting perspective on the whole cornered tigers and unpredictability debate which has become quite boring at this point. Thanks for pointing it out.

I don't know if the unpredictability myth is solely the result of the 1992 win and Pakistan couldn't have done anything to recover since. Sri Lanka's 1996 win was in some ways a bit flukey as well but they used that to build a team that was going from strength to strength quite consistently from the 2000s to the early 2010s.

But had Pakistan won in 1987, we would definitely be looking back fondly at Pakistan cricket myths which would've been healthier than "we are unpredictable and that's what is special about us".

We have allowed the 1992 World Cup to define our cricket. This has been our biggest mistake and has allowed lack of professionalism and complacency to seep through. We don’t believe in consistency and hard work because we back ourselves to turn up when the time comes. Unfortunately, that cannot be replicated consistently.

We need to look at India. Their 1983 World Cup was even more bizarre than Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup. However, they did not allow that win to define their cricket because they knew that it was not something that they could replicate. Instead, they ushered an era of professionalism and over the last 15 odd years, they have consistently produced teams that have rarely (if ever) found themselves in the mid-table in Tests and ODIs, while on the other hand, Pakistan finds itself at 6th or 7th in Tests and ODIs more often than not.

We need to develop a team that consistently get to the semi-finals in World Cups and without relying on the results in other matches. That will maximize our chances of winning the World Cup again.

 

[Rana]

A bit of an over dramatic title post but he has been preferred from 2010 onwards and the team has not really improved at all. It has genuinely been the 7th best team in all formats ever since. England, Australia, India, New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa and Bangladesh are regularly producing world class cricketers or cricketers whereas Pakistan have been producing pure rubbish. We have had a drought in our pace resources and the genuine quicks like Wahab, Sami and Hasnain are just pure garbage when in comes to actually using their extra pace. The batsman are incapable of taking on extra pace and are also prone to be targets for decent spinners.

He (Misbah) was basically a cute joke, story that went too far IMO

 

[Rana]

We have allowed the 1992 World Cup to define our cricket. This has been our biggest mistake and has allowed lack of professionalism and complacency to seep through. We don’t believe in consistency and hard work because we back ourselves to turn up when the time comes. Unfortunately, that cannot be replicated consistently.

We need to look at India. Their 1983 World Cup was even more bizarre than Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup. However, they did not allow that win to define their cricket because they knew that it was not something that they could replicate. Instead, they ushered an era of professionalism and over the last 15 odd years, they have consistently produced teams that have rarely (if ever) found themselves in the mid-table in Tests and ODIs, while on the other hand, Pakistan finds itself at 6th or 7th in Tests and ODIs more often than not.

We need to develop a team that consistently get to the semi-finals in World Cups and without relying on the results in other matches. That will maximize our chances of winning the World Cup again.

Having played and worked closely with the mindset, we cannot achieve this because Pakistani player culture is dominated by senior players and player groups who do not allow a flexible and transparent selection process. They will make the life of those who are responsible to make decisions a living hell. They use all of their resources and political influences to stay in the limelight. Look at Hafeez for instance. The guy just doesn't give up! I don't mind this if he were 28-29, but the guy is 40 and he is still running to the media and crying that there is some PCB agenda to keep him and Malik out of the side! Same with Kamran Akmal and his brother.

A complete change of player culture is required. Players who hit the age of 33 need to realise that their time is up and move on. Only then will you see talented youngsters consistently come through and all fighting to stay in the side for as long as they can in this brief career of 10-13 years, instead of guys who want to stay in for 20 odd years being mediocre cricketers. Shoaib Malik, Hafeez, Kamran, Sarfaraz, Misbah etc are players who would be working as estate agents or something if they were English. Their professional cricket careers would have been done and dusted maximum by 2015 cricket wc.

 

[Kroll]

He (Misbah) was basically a cute joke, story that went too far IMO

Now he's back to haunt and torture us for years to come. So it's basically turned into a nightmare story.

 

[Captain caveman]

Now he's back to haunt and torture us for years to come. So it's basically turned into a nightmare story.

Dont worry, after his spell as coach and chief selector is over in a few years time, misbah will become the chairman of the pcb.

 

[octavian]

If we take out fixers then yes he is.

Singlehandedly responsible for kids losing interest in cricket.

As my friend used to say "Misbah ki waja sai bachun nay cricket dekhna chor di hai" So damn true!

If this is not the worst thing to happen to Pak cricket than i don't know what is. No scandal or incident in the history of Pak cricket has managed to achieve this.

Further, not only the kids but avid fans - who have watched Pakistan cricket team through every up and down for past 30 years - have also stopped watching.

A tour to Australia is one of the more exciting events in cricket for any country. For the first time in my life I am not bothered to watch a single ball so far.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

If this is not the worst thing to happen to Pak cricket than i don't know what is. No scandal or incident in the history of Pak cricket has managed to achieve this.

Further, not only the kids but avid fans - who have watched Pakistan cricket team through every up and down for past 30 years - have also stopped watching.

A tour to Australia is one of the more exciting events in cricket for any country. For the first time in my life I am not bothered to watch a single ball so far.

Sad but true.

 

[marlonbrowndo]

I was a Misbah fan back in 2015 and didn’t understand the hate he got. But I was also stupid. Misbah is the single worst thing to happen to our limited overs cricket and he doesn’t know what to do in Tests outside the UAE either

 

[Chief Destroyer]

I can only laugh at his fans. They are incapable of understanding cricket.

 

[Pete Rose]

I was a Misbah fan back in 2015 and didn’t understand the hate he got. But I was also stupid. Misbah is the single worst thing to happen to our limited overs cricket and he doesn’t know what to do in Tests outside the UAE either

He has no ambition or interest to win this tour. As captain Misbah was always pragmatic, never dreamed too big. Knew he didn’t have it in him to inspire his team to any memorable away wins, so he settled for winning on roads at home. This is something Mickey didn’t do. He kept selecting all rounders so that Pakistan had a five man bowling attack that could compete everywhere. Well Misbah fans, rejoice. When we get back home we will make roads and play Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir shah and win at home.
The best thing about Misbah’s is that he is very transparent about waving the white flag.

 

[Abdullah]

I've said it a millennium times now and said it at the time.
Mickey was doing a good job!!
I was willing to give misbah time but it's starting to run out

 

[Mamoon]

No, the worst thing to happen to Pakistan cricket is Wasim “I left England to help Pakistan cricket” Khan.

Misbah didn’t appoint himself as coach and selector. Wasim Khan came up with this genius idea by giving all powers to one man who is clearly not capable for this responsibility.

The best part is that he is getting paid a fortune for it. He is living the life these days. Make dumb decisions and get paid.

 

[m.shah]

No, the worst thing to happen to Pakistan cricket is Wasim “I left England to help Pakistan cricket” Khan.

Misbah didn’t appoint himself as coach and selector. Wasim Khan came up with this genius idea by giving all powers to one man who is clearly not capable for this responsibility.

The best part is that he is getting paid a fortune for it. He is living the life these days. Make dumb decisions and get paid.

Exactly Wasim has taken pak cricket backward by giving misbah so many head positions.

 

[aukhan]

Yes he is. i have no doubt about it.

Misbah along with shady Waqar has Destroyed this decade of Pakistan cricket.

 

[Kroll]

No, the worst thing to happen to Pakistan cricket is Wasim “I left England to help Pakistan cricket” Khan.

Misbah didn’t appoint himself as coach and selector. Wasim Khan came up with this genius idea by giving all powers to one man who is clearly not capable for this responsibility.

The best part is that he is getting paid a fortune for it. He is living the life these days. Make dumb decisions and get paid.

Yes, but a lot us are looking back much further than the year it has been since Wasim Khan's appointment. Misbah tortured and humiliated us for years before he returned to heap more humiliation on us long suffering fans.