Misbah's contribution to PAK cricket is beyond on field results only. On field, he did take to No. 1 Test ranks & did won an ODI Series in SAF, as first Asian Captain - not to mention first Test series win in WI & ODI Series win in IND & WI. Also, won the Asia Cup after probably 12 years gap.
But, his real contribution was that being a fantastic ambassador for PAK Cricket. In history of PAK cricket, those 6 years were probably the most decent period in terms of off field issues and for that, Misbah is probably respected in cricket world equally with Imran & Kardar. His speech, his behavior, his manners & his press addressing actually tells that - education helps. PAK players, PCB & it's office bearers took PAK crickets' image to such a level that it was almost an unofficial status co for the players from elite players society. After that 2010 incidents, I felt most PAK players were almost forced to a subdued, low profile & low confidence mood - they didn't even sledged on field & body language was always defensive.
On field, he was a limited player, more limited Captain lacking vision, but he did maximize whatever opportunity he had - it's not his fault that, in 6 years, PCB could manage one tour to AUS, ENG & NZ when he was at his last mile. As a Captain, I found him to be a fantastic Man-manager, a Captain who was very good house keeper. These type of Captains do well when they have a very good & settled team. Excluding individual capability & the respective teams that they represented, the 2 Captains I find most similarity with Misbah are Clive Lloyd & Steve Waugh - both were not the best tacticians, but wonderful personality & man manager (and ATG cricketer); they could unite several ATGs & hyper personalities in their teams to a common goal. Different caliber, different level, different team, but Misbah did similar with his PAK side - he made them almost unbeatable in UAE - a very stubborn & united group, who were extremely tough to break on their favorable condition.
I find a reason for Misbah's ODI batting strategy. Between 2003 to 2009, Misbah was an ODI player with an SR of almost 90 (which to me is over 100 in recent context), but at the same time, he experienced few unbelievable collapses by PAK team, which might have influenced his tactics, once he became Captain - but indeed he over killed the idea. Besides, PAK hardly played ODI outside UAE, BD & SRL, where his 2 darters & Afridi almost forced him to play that boring, singleton cricket. Never the less, he was never a great ODI player & his Captaincy wasn't suited for LO cricket, which demands proactive & instant tactical nuances. It was PCB's fault that, they didn't prepare a successor for LO leadership & caught off guard after 2015 WC. Once he got injured against NZ/AUS (UAE), his replacement (Afridi), actually proved that PCB's alternative was like frying oil from boiled water. Besides, it's a fact that out of his 4 years as ODI Captain, he had 2 years Dav as his Coach - a period when PAK won Asia Cup, Series in IND, WI & SAF; took another Series in SAF to 5th match & fought with full strength AUS ball by ball till last overs of series decider match. Rest period, his coach was one of my boyhood hero - but, I won't remain respectful, if I am to write about his strategic nuances as head coach.
I have only 2 blemish against him - first, he unnecessarily dragged his career for too long (and used Chairman PCB's request as an excuse for that). Ideally, he should have retired after ENG series in UAE, if not there was absolutely no reason to continue after UK tour. And, his intention was exposed once he declined to retire after disastrous tours down under. He did perform with bat in WI - something I back him to do even in OCT-NOV SRL series, had he carried on; but Misbah should have retired when people should question why, rather why not.
My biggest frustration with Misbah was that, he almost shut down the doors for youngsters in PAK team. It's not that he didn't give chances to new faces (in that regard, he is several times better than Ul-Haq, who debuted 3 players in his 4 years powerful regime), but he had a bias towards over aged players. It must not be unknown to him regarding the faked age of PAK (Asian) players, yet he was fascinated by players officially over 30. And his nepotism towards players loyal to him didn't help a smooth transition over a generation. Lack of talent, may be, but it can't be that by some magic spell, suddenly 4/5 young players are performing for PAK team since Arthur joined.
I find my own explanation for both cases - the first one is his personality trait. Misbah being a very good house keeper, but with very little entrepreneurial spirit, was always comfortable with mature people, whom are comfortable to manage & guide. Leading/guiding a young player/team needs lots of motivational spirit, vision, patience & passion - it's almost like pulling them to the right path. I don't think, Misbah enjoyed this mentoring role. In corporate as well, we see 2 types of Managers - one is great in developing a team with young but talented team members - guiding, motivating them in to a better professional. The other type are the stable character - they love to work with own team, with seasoned professionals, they are often extremely successful Managers in a stable company. The basic difference between the two is the first one is passionate about being involved with their team; the other group are better at delegating task to right person & maintain status co. Misbah is from the 2nd type, who'll always be comfortable to instruct Zulfi Babar what he wants, rather than guide Zafar Gohar how to reach there. Lobbying for Azhar wasn't his nepotism, I do feel that, he genuinely believed it'll be good for PAK team, because Azhar was in similar mold. Misbah never could come out of his single dimensional thought process, which was built on stability, continuity & team bondage.
The 2nd one is an outcome of bigger mess by PCB. In last 25 years (since Khan), average tenure of PAK Captain is around 6 months I believe, or may be a bit higher because Misbah spoiled the stats. Since Khan, if I can recall correctly, PCB has appointed 20 regular/make shift Captains in 25 years - including 10 years between Inzi & Misbah. If I count tenures (like Wasim 4 times, Rambo 2, Sohail 3, Moin 2, WY 2....), even 6 months is a stress. For a comparison - since WW1, in 100 years, I can count AUS Captains in one hand, including make shifts & Packer rejects. What I felt, Misbah ring-fenced himself with players who won't back-stab him. There could be other issues, but Misbah's team can never be accused of insubordination - they knew who was boss. This safety net approach actually was over killed a bit, hence a bit of erratic characters like MoYo, Akmal (s), Razzak, Jamshed .. were carefully filtered out, but PCB & their CS were equally responsible for that. It can't be only Misbah's fault that exactly 2 years before 2015 WC, in March 2013, PAK fielded an ODI XI with 9 players officially over 30, 10th one almost 30 (Wahab) + JK ... and there were 3 players over 35, again officially - icing on the cake was 4 spinners, 3 of them offie, in an ODI at J'burg - this one I must credit to dynamic & visionary Iqbal Qasim. .
Kardar was a great ambassador of PAK Cricket for the right reasons, so is Misbah & he has the numbers to back as well. Netting off all positives & negatives, I actually'll put him closer to the top end than the lower ebb - probably after Imran, Kardar, Mushtaq, Wasim & may be at per with Miandad & Intekhab. I don't think it's a bad idea if Misbah at some point is appointed at COO or even Chairman PCB.
