syedtumair
Tape Ball Star
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2013
- Runs
- 945
Couple of things.
1. The OP has done a great job accumulating those stats. Hats off to you. Agree or disagree you have to applaud the effort put into these posts. Its why this forum is so good.
2. Stats do not lie and the ones in the OP paint a bad picture, but in this case the stats only focus on 1 guy. Make a similar thread for Pakistans entire batting unit and I guarantee the amount of sub 24 ball innings would be shocking. I'm sure the whole batting line up would have similar if not worse stats.
3. The stats dont take into account the teams position when Misbah came onto the crease. If a team is 45/3 when Misbah comes on and then loses 2 more quick wickets as happened in the WI game pictured above, then obviously he'll play ultra defensively because if he gets out, the team folds for less than 100. Also, very rarely will a player like Afridi make more than 30 because of his aggressive nature. Sure he'll score big occasionally but relying on him to perform consistently with the bat is misguided IMO.
4. The stats above dont take into account whether Pakistan is batting first or chasing, which would have a big impact on how aggressively a player bats. If batting first you'll consolidate at first and then kick on once you've stabilised, whereas chasing you have no choice but to try keep in touch with the required run rate. If majority of innings are batting first, then the odds are he'll look to consolidate rather than hit sixes, especially as is often the case, when the team is 45/3 or 4 wickets down. If batting second and you find yourself 46/4 or so, then you need 1 guy to hit big boundaries and one other guy to turn over the strike. Misbah is naturally suited to turning over the strike so he probably feels its better if he leaves the big hitting to others e.g. U Akmal or Afridi. When this doesnt happen or fails, the team is already in no mans land and loses heavily, which probably makes Misbah's figures and strike rate look worse than they actually are. Look at Mohali, I'm sure Misbah was hoping for Younus or U Akmal to hit at a good rate, when this didnt materialize he was left stranded and his innings stood out as the worst. Call this making excuses, its just my opinion.
5. Misbah is captain so responsibility is on him to play with a cool head, which rules out the Afridi-esque approach. He's also expected to bring his team home of they are in trouble, which may be a reason for his defensive batting e.g. if he gets out people will talk about how he doesnt have the bottle to guide his teams chase whereas if Afridi gets out, people can claim he was trying to accelerate/repair the damage Misbah caused, rather than criticise him.This makes Afridi and others who fail look way better than the actually are. IMO you need your captain to be more cool headed than others, otherwise he'll spend most of the match in the hut.
6. No matter how bad Misbah is in your eyes, you cannot possibly blame him for all the teams faults. You're only harming the team by doing this as the top order that constantly fails will eventually feel they will never be held accountable and get complacent. Misbah is just 1 man and yes he is captain, but he cannot possibly be blamed for the constant batting collapses Pakistan endure. The team is comprised of men, not Misbah and a bunch of kids, so blame all of them if they've failed, not just Misbah. You'll promote a good atmosphere of accountability if all are held responsible, and the captain isnt scapegoated for everything.
Just my thoughts. Feel free to disagree.
a good post...further i will add we often forget the importance of partnerships in ODI cricket...A good 80-odd partnership (Irrespective of of individual Strike rates of player ) at good combined Strike Rate is more important .... A team would prefer a 80(90) partnership at the end of day rather than 40(40) with both player failing to maintain wicket .