Whenever Misbah retires from international cricket he can leave with pride and dignity. Whatever he has achieved and done for Pakistan cricket will go down in history.
He lifted Pakistan cricket when it was at it's lowest point and in danger of crumbling.
His legacy will live on. He will be remembered forever for what he has achieved and his professionalism.
He will always be remembered as a great ambassador for Pakistan cricket.
I would have agreed with you if Misbah had had the good judgment to retire after England toured the UAE 14 months ago. He would have served his team and country above and beyond the call of duty to the age of 41, and got out of the way early enough to allow Babar Azam to play 9 Tests before the tour of Australia - rather than the 3 he actually got.
I have argued that a player like Waqar Younis should be judged by his peak, not discounted by his slow decline.
But the same cannot be said of an international cricket captain. It's a strange and idiosyncratic aspect of international cricket that the captain is effectively the team supremo, certainly senior in rank to the coach.
He gets the players he wants. He picks the balance of the team (e.g. how many fast bowlers and how many spinners). He chooses who bowls when, and for how long. And he sets the fields.
But this means that in every non-dysfunctional country, the captain is held accountable for the results.
And this is why Misbah is losing a lot of respect very fast.
He has been terrific at the diplomatic side of the job, which was unusually important due to the fixing that had been rife in the team before he inherited it.
But the last four series in 6 months have, to be frank, exposed Misbah as a thoroughly incompetent captain on all the important playing criteria.
Some of the best players were not selected. He is so friendly with his NCA bowling net-buddy Mohammad Asif that he even went to Oslo to play in a charity match there. But he did not try to get him into the team for the 3 series outside Asia where he was needed. Similarly Salman Butt and Umar Akmal's runs as second opener and in the middle order in Australia were not replaced.
His fields have been horrible for months and he has misused - and overused - Yasir Shah catastrophically. The same overuse without enough slips has completely neutralized and worn out Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz too. No fast bowler is ever going to get wickets in Australia with 1 slip. I've got film of Waqar and Wasim bowling with the old ball at Melbourne and Adelaide in 1989-90 still with 3 slips and a gully in place, because Imran Khan knew how to take wickets in Australia.
But Misbah has also blocked the development of young players, and the cost has been catastrophic. Zulfiqar Babar has played on forever with his Test bowling average of 40. But if Zafar Gohar had been persevered with he might have been ready to replace a mentally-shot Yasir Shah on this tour.
Meanwhile, Babar Azam scored 40 and 114 not out at Sharjah against Johnson, Starc, Siddle, Marsh, Lyon and O'Keefe in mid-October 2014.....then had to wait another 2 years to debut. Which meant that he arrived in Australia a rookie.
Misbah has to be accountable for the consequences of his actions.
