What's new

Misbah-ul-Haq or Shivnarine Chanderpaul - Who would you take in ODIs?

Chanderpaul all day everyday and twice on a Sunday :)

Whilst he was not ATG player - he could accelerate like the very best in ODI’s once set. Very consistent and had the desire to make big scores and if I am not mistaken - even has a 150 to his name in ODI’s.
 
Misbah was way too limited as a batsman. Just because he could stay at the crease and every now and then hit out against off spinners does not mean he was a proper batsman. Plus he hardly ever won us any game through his batting

Chanderpaul head and shoulders above Misbah
 
Is this even a question? Chanderpaul's strike rate in ODIs is misleading. He could accelerate against the best bowling attacks at will when he was set and when required.

Both Misbah and him have one thing in common though. Useless batsmen around them in their teams.
 
Is this even a question? Chanderpaul's strike rate in ODIs is misleading. He could accelerate against the best bowling attacks at will when he was set and when required.

Both Misbah and him have one thing in common though. Useless batsmen around them in their teams.

I wouldn't say that. Maybe towards end of his career. He did play with Lara and Hooper quite a lot as his debut was in 1994. He also had Sarwan, Gayle et all around him. So not completely useless players. Probably in tests but in ODI's he played majority of his career with decent players. They might have not performed that great but they were capable bats. In his last ODI he remained 44 not out and had Gayle, Sarwan, Bravo around him. All of them failed in that game but again they were decent ODI players.
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't say that. Maybe towards end of his career. He did play with Lara and Hooper quite a lot as his debut was in 1994. He also had Sarwan, Gayle et all around him. So not completely useless players. Probably in tests but in ODI's he played majority of his career with decent players. They might have not performed that great but they were capable bats. In his last ODI he remained 44 not out and had Gayle, Sarwan, Bravo around him. All of them failed in that game but again they were decent ODI players.
At the end of the day performances are what matter. It was a general trend when chanders played ODIs that other batsmen from his team struggled. Yes Sarwan, Gayle and Lara were good but they didnt gel together like they should have and many a times were in and out of the team.
Misbah also had potentially good batsmen like umar akmal when he began, nasir jamshed at peak, (cant think of a 3rd name :yk ) but that potential doesnt matter if it doesnt materialize into performances over time.
 
Chanderpaul easily, just wanted to see the reasoning behind people choosing Misbah over him, the latter who I believe was a mediocre batsman who's average is boosted by the fact that he feasted on only bad deliveries while making dots in the progress meaning it was hard to get him out because he was a patient ODI batsman, a good strategy in tests but not so much in ODI.
 
At the end of the day performances are what matter. It was a general trend when chanders played ODIs that other batsmen from his team struggled. Yes Sarwan, Gayle and Lara were good but they didnt gel together like they should have and many a times were in and out of the team.
Misbah also had potentially good batsmen like umar akmal when he began, nasir jamshed at peak, (cant think of a 3rd name :yk ) but that potential doesnt matter if it doesnt materialize into performances over time.

To be really frank, I guess you are confused with the West Indies test team. West Indies ODI team was poor overall but the following players are surely better than the names you mention from Pakistan:

Ramnaresh Sarwan - 5800 runs at an average of 42
Carl Hooper - 5700 runs at an average of 36 (His played most of his cricket in the 90's and this was very good average for that time)
Chris Gayle - 9394 runs at an average of 37
Brian Lara - 10405 runs at an average of 40
Marlon Samuels - 5241 at an average of 33.81

I know West Indies probably did not click very well as a team, there were multiple factors contributing to that. Their bowling attack was never that good after Walsh and Ambrose retired. Their overall enthusiasm for the game disappeared over the years. I still remember watching India play West Indies in 1997 to packed stadiums for tests. If you watched any recent tests in West Indies, there are hardly any people. Chanders was from the school of 90's. He started off playing for a team which was still a very good West Indies team. In the year 1995, West Indies finally lost a test series after 15 years, the longest streak I guess for any team. Even though they lost the test series, they still beat Australia 4-1 in the ODI series. An Australian team which had Warne, McGrath, Craig McDermott in their bowling attack. This was the time Chanders made his debut for West Indies. West Indies downfall started in the late 90's and continued for over a decade. For at least 60% of 90's West Indies were a good test/ODI team. Chanders made his debut in 1994 in the series against England, A series which West Indies won 3-1 in tests and 3-2 in ODI's.
 
Last edited:
Misbah ul Haq, the number of times he's had to dig his team out of a hole is just unparalled.
 
No one will have the number of cartoon hacks Misbah had in his team : Jamshed/Umar Akmal/Afridi/Maqsood/Younis Khan/Imran Farhat/Kamran Akmal
 
Misbah ul Haq in ODIs. Misbah could play the impact innings when needed and was actually a pretty decent ODI batsman. He has the best average of any Asian batsman outside Asia in this format, IIRC.
 
This must be a trick question as one of these guys scored a 150 opening the batting against South Africa. Anyone that saw Shiv bat in ODI cricket in the late nineties and early noughties knows what I am talking about.
 
Chanderpaul was far better than Misbah in both Tests and ODIs.
 
Misbah ul Haq, the number of times he's had to dig his team out of a hole is just unparalled.

Mate, any half decent cricketer can score 40s, 50s, and 60s if they're given as many balls as they want where they can play only bad balls and block good balls. Evident if you look at the scorecards where Misbah "dug us out" 60 and 70 strike rates galore. He didn't dig us out, he mostly delayed the inevitable.

That is what Misbah did. Typical strategy in tests but not in ODI.

If you do that in ODIs on these flat pitches then you're enabling your team to score 220 and 230 instead of 280 or 290.

Doesn't take anything away from Misbah being the best ODI batsman on our team during that awful period filled with chuckers and TTFs.
 
Last edited:
Chanderpaul. Ugly technique but highly effective player
 
Mate, any half decent cricketer can score 40s, 50s, and 60s if they're given as many balls as they want where they can play only bad balls and block good balls. Evident if you look at the scorecards where Misbah "dug us out" 60 and 70 strike rates galore. He didn't dig us out, he mostly delayed the inevitable.

That is what Misbah did. Typical strategy in tests but not in ODI.

If you do that in ODIs on these flat pitches then you're enabling your team to score 220 and 230 instead of 280 or 290.

Doesn't take anything away from Misbah being the best ODI batsman on our team during that awful period filled with chuckers and TTFs.

There was this thread that Misbah has no role to play in our 300+ chases, but if you look at all the other games, Misbah was pivotal in those chases especially after top order collapsed. The man was the top run getter in 2013, but our team wasn't scoring runs at all against the opposition. Thats really weird.
 
Mt Avg S/R

Australia 15 35.50 65.84

NZ 13 38.73 69.72

SA 22 38.26 72.34

India 17 39.29 88.28

Sri Lanka 30 46.71 73.54

WI 17 69.10 67.75


Misbah has been very consistent against the top sides as you can see here, stats that alot of other Pakistani greats don't have against these names. And a pretty decent sample size to those numbers. Ofcourse the strike rate is the issue.
 
Last edited:
Another common misconception is Misbah scoring 50s in losing causes, whereas 25 out of his 42 half centuries have been in winning causes
 
Good comparison. I’m a huge Chanderpaul fan so I’ll pick him. Played in the 90s era where bowling was at its peak. Misbah is hugelym under rated tho. Scored heavily when others failed.
 
Back
Top