Misbah-ul-Haq and the fear of losing : Is it harming Pakistan cricket?

[Bleedgreen4ever]

Imran Khan once said that the captains before him always played for a draw and were scared to go for a win. You can never be successful in sports if you have that fear of losing.

Misbah even before the first T20 told the reporters that he would not experiment much as he doesn't want the team to lose. This fear was the pivotal reason why Pakistan team came under pressure against a pathetic side.

This fear factor played a crucial role in Misbah's thought process and this is the reason why he is extremely unsuccessful as captain in ICC tournaments (probably the worst Pakistan performance in history came in 2013 under him) and as captain in overseas tests.

Say whatever you want but Mickey was lion hearted and always experimented unlike Misbah.

We need a fighter coach to bring our team on its feet.

 

[Buffet]

Imran Khan once said that the captains before him always played for a draw and were scared to go for a win. You can never be successful in sports if you have that fear of losing.

Misbah even before the first T20 told the reporters that he would not experiment much as he doesn't want the team to lose. This fear was the pivotal reason why Pakistan team came under pressure against a pathetic side.

This fear factor played a crucial role in Misbah's thought process and this is the reason why he is extremely unsuccessful as captain in ICC tournaments (probably the worst Pakistan performance in history came in 2013 under him) and as captain in overseas tests.

Say whatever you want but Mickey was lion hearted and always experimented unlike Misbah.

We need a fighter coach to bring our team on its feet.

Mushtaq played before IK and Miandad played with him.

Captains - Draw %

Mushtaq - 36%
Miandad - 41%
Imran - 54%

 

[Buffet]

Just in case, he was talking about captains from other teams.

Some of the captains who played during his era,

Captain - Draw %

Border - 40%
Lloyd - 35%
Viv - 30%
Brearley - 29%
Gover - 28%
Crowe - 43%
Howarth - 40%
Pataudi - 30%
Bedi - 22%

There would be many who had a much higher % of draws than I listed, but many captains had low draw % as well.

 

[UzmanBeast]

Aggressive captaincy is required.

If you go for the win but lose in the process, there's more to learn and it leaves a better mark on the fans and spectators.

We're playing like turtles, every time our top order is gone we hide in our shell.

Misbah is not fit for Head Coach, and with his captaincy so far, I'm not certain Babar is a good candidate for being captain.

 

[Bleedgreen4ever]

Mushtaq played before IK and Miandad played with him.

Captains - Draw %

Mushtaq - 36%
Miandad - 41%
Imran - 54%

Mushtaq revolutionized Pak cricket.

This thread is not about IK or Mushtaq. IK may have had more draws but his overseas performance was far far better than most captains on the list you shared. It's the approach that matters.

 

[Rauf's_Lungs]

Mushtaq played before IK and Miandad played with him.

Captains - Draw %

Mushtaq - 36%
Miandad - 41%
Imran - 54%

That's primarily because of those ridiculous India tests which always ended in draws.

 

[Saj]

The captain seems to be captain just by name.

The man sat outside seems to be calling the shots in terms of personnel and tactics.

 

[srh]

The captain seems to be captain just by name.

The man sat outside seems to be calling the shots in terms of personnel and tactics.

horrible, Misbah is treating Babar as a dodh peeta bacha

 

[Bleedgreen4ever]

horrible, Misbah is treating Babar as a dodh peeta bacha

Maybe the exact reason why he wanted Azhar to be captain because Azhar was a dummy.

 

[Third Man]

horrible, Misbah is treating Babar as a dodh peeta bacha

Then Babar shouldn't let himself be treated like a doodh peeta bacha and own his team. He should know that he's a lot more powerful than Misbah and if push comes to shove he'll be the one to survive, not Misbah.

 

[Bleedgreen4ever]

Then Babar shouldn't let himself be treated like a doodh peeta bacha and own his team. He should know that he's a lot more powerful than Misbah and if push comes to shove he'll be the one to survive, not Misbah.

He's said that again and again but noone listens.

 

[The Viper]

Then Babar shouldn't let himself be treated like a doodh peeta bacha and own his team. He should know that he's a lot more powerful than Misbah and if push comes to shove he'll be the one to survive, not Misbah.

Spot on. He has nothing to lose, the PCB would not dare infuriating their star man, Babar should speak up.

 

[Shazzam]

Then Babar shouldn't let himself be treated like a doodh peeta bacha and own his team. He should know that he's a lot more powerful than Misbah and if push comes to shove he'll be the one to survive, not Misbah.

You can't force somebody to do something that's against in there nature.

 

[Snowflake]

Misbah has played his entire career with the mindset that avoiding loss. The first way he batted, his approach confirmed that he just wanted to stay in the competition. He has always feared losing.

Before this Zim your, he said that we do not want to give gutsy Zimbabwe a shot at the series. This statement clearly shows that he's always thinking about how strong the opposition is and what we can do to avoid getting beaten.

Such a mentality will always get you middling results in sports and in life. No wonder Pakistan lost its belief and sense of confidence even when facing minnows. Fear of failure will always lead you to failure.

 

[Snowflake]

You can't force somebody to do something that's against in there nature.

If he thought he can stay in his comfort zone while being the captain of the side, he doesn't deserve captaincy

 

[YousafTheBeast]

Misbah has played his entire career with the mindset that avoiding loss. The first way he batted, his approach confirmed that he just wanted to stay in the competition. He has always feared losing.

Before this Zim your, he said that we do not want to give gutsy Zimbabwe a shot at the series. This statement clearly shows that he's always thinking about how strong the opposition is and what we can do to avoid getting beaten.

Such a mentality will always get you middling results in sports and in life. No wonder Pakistan lost its belief and sense of confidence even when facing minnows. Fear of failure will always lead you to failure.

He’s basically destroying the confidence of the team, by not trusting your bench players to perform against teams like Zimbabwe will most likely affect their morale. He’s basically telling them that they’re not good enough. I feel that he’s always a step behind with team selections and only makes those changes due to media pressure.

If Misbah had faith in his squad, he’d rest Hafeez and Babar, and play Haider Ali as an opener and maybe give Danish Aziz a chance playing higher in the batting order.

 

[hitthestump]

If he thought he can stay in his comfort zone while being the captain of the side, he doesn't deserve captaincy

It's all relative though isn't it. Babar is clearly no stranger to comfort zones, he's one of the best batsmen in the world. Personality traits have little to do with how hard you work though.

 

[Snowflake]

He’s basically destroying the confidence of the team, by not trusting your bench players to perform against teams like Zimbabwe will most likely affect their morale. He’s basically telling them that they’re not good enough. I feel that he’s always a step behind with team selections and only makes those changes due to media pressure.

If Misbah had faith in his squad, he’d rest Hafeez and Babar, and play Haider Ali as an opener and maybe give Danish Aziz a chance playing higher in the batting order.

I don't think it's about his faith in this particular squad. He's never showed trust in his team even when he has the captain. He'd come in at 20/2 and it's be shutters down till the end of the innings. The guy is just wired that way where it's all about safety and security. He's always thinking about the worst case scenario which means that he's never thinking about the best case scenario.

Think for a second... A guy who used to bat through or for most the innings quite frequently does not even have a one damn century to show for it? He's someone who would bolt at the sight of even the slightest risk. It's sad because Pak's cricket was built around the exact opposite DNA

 

[srh]

Then Babar shouldn't let himself be treated like a doodh peeta bacha and own his team. He should know that he's a lot more powerful than Misbah and if push comes to shove he'll be the one to survive, not Misbah.

Babar come across as a meek personality, these people can never take a stand (right or wrong), very gullible. To be honest he should not be captain.

 

[daytrader]

I don't think it's about his faith in this particular squad. He's never showed trust in his team even when he has the captain. He'd come in at 20/2 and it's be shutters down till the end of the innings. The guy is just wired that way where it's all about safety and security. He's always thinking about the worst case scenario which means that he's never thinking about the best case scenario.

Think for a second... A guy who used to bat through or for most the innings quite frequently does not even have a one damn century to show for it? He's someone who would bolt at the sight of even the slightest risk. It's sad because Pak's cricket was built around the exact opposite DNA

If he was was to bolt, he would've done it long ago with the amount of criticism he takes. And no our cricket has never been the exact opposite, we always get scared chasing any total. Misbah is a realist, he knows our limitations and is working within them to get the best possible results

 

[daytrader]

Babar come across as a meek personality, these people can never take a stand (right or wrong), very gullible. To be honest he should not be captain.

He should be captain as he's the best player in the team. But he should not be calling the shots as the politics of selection will deter him from being focused on batting. He has 1 role as captain, which is to make runs and lead from the front. If he keeps that up, he will inspire the team and future generations.

 

[srh]

He should be captain as he's the best player in the team. But he should not be calling the shots as the politics of selection will deter him from being focused on batting. He has 1 role as captain, which is to make runs and lead from the front. If he keeps that up, he will inspire the team and future generations.

what logic is this? why Tendulkar was a bad captain then?

 

[daytrader]

what logic is this? why Tendulkar was a bad captain then?

So that we avoid a situation where we have a specialist captain

 

[Line and Length]

Misbah made so many Pakistani cricket fans fall out of love with the sport during his limited over captaincy days, and he was determined to do the same with his coaching too. When he played Abid Ali as the opener alongside Imam in the ODIs vs Zimbabwe last year, I honestly feared for the worst. His defensive mindset plagued our cricket for years and gave us cricketers like Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq. Who knows what mark he'll leave on our cricket by the time his coaching tenure comes to an end.

 

[Saj]

More often than not defensive cricketers become similar coaches. There is no way that a cautious cricketer is suddenly going to be an all-out attacking coach.

I don't think Misbah will ever be a very attacking coach and at the end of the day it will have to be up to the on-field skipper to stand firm and impose his tactics and style on the team.

is Babar that man? I don't think so.