Misbah-ul-Haq vs Mohammad Azharuddin - Who was a better LOI captain?

[Bleedgreen4ever]

I felt that both of them were captains during the unarguably worst phase of their team's histories.

While Misbah has a cleaner reputation I think both of them played a good stabilizing role for their teams and provided the much needed leadership to their weak teams.

They both have decent LOI stats as captain.

But both of them lacked the killer attitude that was seen in later captains like Ganguly and Sarfaraz.

So who do you think was the better captain?

 

[HuzaifaE]

Azharuddin was objectively a better captain from one perspective, but all objective comparisons should go out the window because of what he did - inexcusable from a captain.

A part of me appreciates Misbah's sincere and honest efforts and undisputed effort, but another part says he was carried to respectability by the greatest spin trio LOI cricket has seen, composed of two chuckers.

He got the team in a nasty position initially, and lead us to success away in SA and in India and no one can take that away.

However, his entire tenure consisted of the reinforcement of the primitive 80s mentality batting we needed to get rid of, while every other team around us proceeded to successfully do so, or had already done so.

An overly defensive captain for my liking, and it's hard to go wrong in terms of bowling changes when you had Ajmal, Hafeez and Afridi strangling every team in the middle overs to an incomparable extent.

He also arguably left us in as bad of a shape as he inherited the team in - a poor WC with a bunch of certified failures leading to the subsequent necessary chop and change during Azhar's reign, who himself was a diabolical captain but got dealt a rough hand to be fair.

A mixed captaincy on the whole, and I don't think we would have been much worse off with say, Hafeez at the helm, but Misbah did his job respectfully and deserves respect for that.

 

[Rightarmfast]

Havent gone through the stats. However, Misbah would have died for his country. And we all know what the other did!

As a player and a captain, I think Azhar had a lot more charisma and because of the time he played, against top players of teams, that adds to it.

 

[UN talkz]

Misbah

 

[lehen]

Misbah , no question about that

 

[TeymurBlake]

Misbah for me. Even though it was a tough predicament for him, he performed extremely well.

 

[King-Misbah]

Misbah! He never sold his country out but helped Pakistan cricket to regain its lost dignity. He also made us a great test team

 

[Bleedgreen4ever]

Under Misbah

Pakistan lost the aggressive nature it was known for under him and his era was among the darkest ever

Not a single fast bowler groomed under him

Was sick of the nice boy attitude of that pakistan cricket team

 

[Bleedgreen4ever]

This thread is about captaincy not loyalty

Please stick to the topic of the thread

 

[jnaveen1980]

Azharuddin was a lullu captain haha. If we win "we bowled well fielded well batted well" If we don't win "we didn't bowl well fieldd well bat well" . One of the most generic captain you can see. He will do standard stuff like a clock work. I am talking about his early days since later on i can never tell which one he fix which one he didn't. His batting didn't suffer because of his captaincy. But tactically nothing to write home about. As mechanical, boring and inept like his predecessor Vengsarkar. But there was one match i thought he did okay. Earliest one. At perth pitch was assisting crazy for every seamer. India had just 4 seamers. Only 126 to defend. He used all the 4 seamers by 40th over. 10 overs left with only spinners and part timers left. They had 1 wicket in hand. Just 5 runs to win. After long deliberation they went with Tendulkar who used to bowl dibbly dobbly seamers. Sachin was predominantly an outswing bowler as a part timer those days. Actually he could bowl decent outswingers. That over helped INdia tie the match. He had guys like Kapil dev at his disposal to help him a bit early on. After their loss at Australia, World cup, SA they had to do something to restore the fait of public. So he and Wadekar came up with the idea of designer pitches at home where Kumble wreaked havoc against hapless England and Zimbabwe. SOme interesting things happened under his captaincy. Sachin opened for the first time ever by accident. Rest is history.

 

[anoop]

Misbah any day over 100 azhars

 

[Abdul]

Misbah.

 

[Josh]

Misbah all the way. He lead from front but it's not his mistake that Pakistan didn't have any quality cricketers(besides that Yusuf) during his days

 

[Major]

post stats,

and i would like if the older ppers could shed some light on azhruddins captaincy.

 

[Buffet]

One one captain always played to win.

 

[Justcrazy]

Azhar.

Azhar was not that negative captain as people here making him to be.

 

[Mercurial]

Azharuddin was objectively a better captain from one perspective, but all objective comparisons should go out the window because of what he did - inexcusable from a captain.

A part of me appreciates Misbah's sincere and honest efforts and undisputed effort, but another part says he was carried to respectability by the greatest spin trio LOI cricket has seen, composed of two chuckers.

He got the team in a nasty position initially, and lead us to success away in SA and in India and no one can take that away.

However, his entire tenure consisted of the reinforcement of the primitive 80s mentality batting we needed to get rid of, while every other team around us proceeded to successfully do so, or had already done so.

An overly defensive captain for my liking, and it's hard to go wrong in terms of bowling changes when you had Ajmal, Hafeez and Afridi strangling every team in the middle overs to an incomparable extent.

He also arguably left us in as bad of a shape as he inherited the team in - a poor WC with a bunch of certified failures leading to the subsequent necessary chop and change during Azhar's reign, who himself was a diabolical captain but got dealt a rough hand to be fair.

A mixed captaincy on the whole, and I don't think we would have been much worse off with say, Hafeez at the helm, but Misbah did his job respectfully and deserves respect for that.

Good analysis.

 

[jnaveen1980]

In ODIs Azhar is a far better batsman even when he was a captain. Very fit guy. Outstanding fielder. Misba never flourished in the one dayer. Not a single 100 which is really poor especially in the 2000s.

 

[moghul]

Misbah was a very defensive, negative captain. He was also a very selfish one, delayed his retirement for 4 years and Pakistan suffered a lot due to that. He probably has been the worst ODI captain for Pakistan . Azhar cannot be appreciated either due to his involvement in match fixing, but he was a better capatin.

 

[indipper]

Misbah in 2011 could have win you the WC.

You can put his captaincy against Dhoni, but not Azharuddin. Misbah is probably the best one we had. Yes better than Imran.

 

[Bleedgreen4ever]

Misbah in 2011 could have win you the WC.

You can put his captaincy against Dhoni, but not Azharuddin. Misbah is probably the best one we had. Yes better than Imran.

You are joking right?

Misbah and Inzammam were the dullest captains we had

 

[Bleedgreen4ever]

Misbah was a very defensive, negative captain. He was also a very selfish one, delayed his retirement for 4 years and Pakistan suffered a lot due to that. He probably has been the worst ODI captain for Pakistan . Azhar cannot be appreciated either due to his involvement in match fixing, but he was a better capatin.

Good points

 

[Buffet]

Misbah in 2011 could have win you the WC.

You can put his captaincy against Dhoni, but not Azharuddin. Misbah is probably the best one we had.

Praising Misbah is one thing, but this is bit too much.

 

[GBK_Fan]

Misbah.

Azhar is a convicted cheat. He should be compared to Salman Butt and Hansie Cronje only

 

[rhony]

One was a fixer and the other saved his team from fixing. Misbah is the 2nd greatest captain for Pak after IK

 

[msb314]

Too young to have watched Azharuddins captaincy but both of these captains in question were easily overshadowed by their successors in terms of winning trophies and style of play.

 

[msb314]

You are joking right?

Misbah and Inzammam were the dullest captains we had

Inzy was anything but a dull captain.

Players like Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Afridi, Razzaq, Malik and even YK and MoYo had their best years under Inzy.

We were a formidable ODI team under him and played an aggressive style of cricket relative to that era.

My only complaint against Inzy is that he did not indict enough youngsters into the team other than Akmal, Butt and Rana Naved / Asif.

2005-2007 was defnitely a very good period for our cricket.

 

[Ab Fan]

Misbah..

 

[Bleedgreen4ever]

Inzy was anything but a dull captain.

Players like Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Afridi, Razzaq, Malik and even YK and MoYo had their best years under Inzy.

We were a formidable ODI team under him and played an aggressive style of cricket relative to that era.

My only complaint against Inzy is that he did not indict enough youngsters into the team other than Akmal, Butt and Rana Naved / Asif.

2005-2007 was defnitely a very good period for our cricket.

Formidable?
LOL

losing to India 5-1 in 2006 at home?
Losing the WC 2007 in the group stages?
2006 CT?(I know Inzi was not captain during that but still it was his team)
Most of the victories were at home and against weak opposition.

In reality 2005 to 2007 was horrible just like the Misbah era.

 

[Bleedgreen4ever]

One was a fixer and the other saved his team from fixing. Misbah is the 2nd greatest captain for Pak after IK

Wasim and Sarfaraz are much better LOI captains

Misbah was a very poor leader in LOI but he did provide the much needed stability.

 

[msb314]

Formidable?
LOL

losing to India 5-1 in 2006 at home?
Losing the WC 2007 in the group stages?
2006 CT?(I know Inzi was not captain during that but still it was his team)
Most of the victories were at home and against weak opposition.

In reality 2005 to 2007 was horrible just like the Misbah era.

The India defeat was an aberration against an ATG Indian team so I will give my benefit of doubt on that one.

Yes - we were poor in ICC tournaments during Inzy's reign which is regrettable but also had to deal with one issue after another (Akhtar / Asif failing drug tests, Inzy's ban for the 2006 CT, Shoaib Akhtar fight with Woolmer).

However - don't forget we beat England at home, drew England away from home, beat India away from home, beat SL away from home, beat WI away from home and beat WI at home in ODI's during that time.

We reached 2nd ranking in ODI's during that period which is the highest ranking I have seen in my lifetime.

 

[jagatk]

Match fixer vs A Gentleman, the choice couldn't be easier.

 

[Bleedgreen4ever]

The India defeat was an aberration against an ATG Indian team so I will give my benefit of doubt on that one.

Yes - we were poor in ICC tournaments during Inzy's reign which is regrettable but also had to deal with one issue after another (Akhtar / Asif failing drug tests, Inzy's ban for the 2006 CT, Shoaib Akhtar fight with Woolmer).

However - don't forget we beat England at home, drew England away from home, beat India away from home, beat SL away from home, beat WI away from home and beat WI at home in ODI's during that time.

We reached 2nd ranking in ODI's during that period which is the highest ranking I have seen in my lifetime.

The same Indian team that lost in the first round of 2007WC?

we did not reach 2nd ranking we reached 4th.

Beating England at home and abroad is not a big deal our previous teams have done it as well.
West Indies was a second tier team apart from Lara.

 

[subbu]

Stats wise Azhar (had a better win %

 

[subbu]

Stats wise Azhar (had a better Win % in ODIs better than even Ganguly )
But what he has doing is unforgivable .. for some 'strange' reason even with poor record chasing India batted 2nd in big number of matches under Ahar .. especially in Sharjah

Misbah

 

[MMHS]

As a Captain Azhar was ahead, marginally; as a player - no comparison. As a person & leader, no comparison either, but this time in Misbah's favor.

Azhar was arguably the best batsman of 1992 WC, but his team finished 7th; he was the best batsman of IND's tour of ENG & NZ at the start of his captaincy career - his team lost both series & his Captaincy was even poorer (sent ENG to bat at Lord's and they reached 650/3 !!!!! I believe). Azhar's golden era as Captain was between 1992 to 1998, mostly at home when he had Kumble to bowl & Tendulkar to bat (himself as well, his Eden 182 & Kanpur 170+ is probably as good innings against spin as KP's 180+ at Mumbai).

In terms of uniting team & make better use of limited resources, Misbah actually did well, but compared to Azhar as a batsman he was so much classless that most people won't even notice his contribution to PAK cricket. Tactically, both very limited (very similar as well - both were comfortable to operate with loads of spin only and both's game philosophy was safety first). Misbah had great personality which he kept intact till last day, while Azhar built a great image, then crashed everything himself (not only for that fixing issue - guy divorced his 12 years wife Naureen with 2 kids for ......)

I'll always pick Azhar as a player, but none as Captain - but if I am forced to make one Captain, it'll be Azhar - because he was good enough batsman to lead from the front.

 

[anikrc1]

As a Captain Azhar was ahead, marginally; as a player - no comparison. As a person & leader, no comparison either, but this time in Misbah's favor.

Azhar was arguably the best batsman of 1992 WC, but his team finished 7th; he was the best batsman of IND's tour of ENG & NZ at the start of his captaincy career - his team lost both series & his Captaincy was even poorer (sent ENG to bat at Lord's and they reached 650/3 !!!!! I believe). Azhar's golden era as Captain was between 1992 to 1998, mostly at home when he had Kumble to bowl & Tendulkar to bat (himself as well, his Eden 182 & Kanpur 170+ is probably as good innings against spin as KP's 180+ at Mumbai).

In terms of uniting team & make better use of limited resources, Misbah actually did well, but compared to Azhar as a batsman he was so much classless that most people won't even notice his contribution to PAK cricket. Tactically, both very limited (very similar as well - both were comfortable to operate with loads of spin only and both's game philosophy was safety first). Misbah had great personality which he kept intact till last day, while Azhar built a great image, then crashed everything himself (not only for that fixing issue - guy divorced his 12 years wife Naureen with 2 kids for ......)

I'll always pick Azhar as a player, but none as Captain - but if I am forced to make one Captain, it'll be Azhar - because he was good enough batsman to lead from the front.

was azhar better than tendulkar in 1992 world cup? i didn't watch it live , but checking the records it look like crowe was far and away the best batsman, while lara azhar tendulkar greatbatch and ranatunga have comparable records

 

[Gubol123]

was azhar better than tendulkar in 1992 world cup? i didn't watch it live , but checking the records it look like crowe was far and away the best batsman, while lara azhar tendulkar greatbatch and ranatunga have comparable records

Crowe was the best in that tournament but Azhar and Lara were not far behind.. All three batted fluently and with a very good strike rate if i remember correctly. Crowe had the advantage of playing most of his matches in front of a sell out home crowd where as Azhar was playing after a disastrous Aus tour previous year.. Azhar was certainly top three batsman of the tournament

 

[MMHS]

was azhar better than tendulkar in 1992 world cup? i didn't watch it live , but checking the records it look like crowe was far and away the best batsman, while lara azhar tendulkar greatbatch and ranatunga have comparable records

He was very good - played the best innings of the tournament against AUS. Another one against SAF, but by then IND was out of SF. He was indeed among the best batsmen and probably made the tournament XI along with Martin, Lara, Tendulkar & Javed. However, more than runs, his batting was real class apart, few weeks before WC, he made 107 at Adelaide on Day 5 wicket, probably with 19 boundaries - almost won a Test (massively biased by Aussie umpires, one of the worst home umpiring I have ever seen) from no where.

 

[qurram4u]

Not many people here are aware that Azhar to his credit have three Victories against Pakistan in three world cups 92,96 and 99 although India didnt qualify for semis in 92 and 99.
His Semi final victory against South Africa in Hero Cup Semi Final where South Africa needed just 6 to win worth mentioning here, Azhar himself scored 90 odd. They went on to win the final against west indies.
off course when you get caught in match fixing , people tend to forget all the good things you do. If you dont get caught you would still be sitting with the coaching staff of lucrative T20 leagues..