The Misbah-ul-Haq Captaincy Analysis Thread

The Misbah-ul-Haq Captaincy Analysis Thread [Merged]

The guy leads the team to bringing the number 1 team down to 240 odd for 8 on the first day of a test match in the freaking UAE and there are still criticisms out there. The people who say a country like Pakistan doesn't deserve Misbah are right.

It's the usual haters. Let them.
 
Brilliant leadership, tactics, field placements.

Telling the world why he's the BEST & MOST SUCCESSFUL Test captain of Pakistan in more than a DECADE :)

Haters won't be feeling good :p
 
King to rescue us again. What a player, what a leader, of a PATHETIC side.
 
He didn't want to review either but chose to do so because of irfan. Even akmal didn't want to review
 
Pathetic captaincy in this test allowed Smith n AB to accumulate as much as they can ultra defensive captain
 
Misbah The All-Round Captain

Misbah

More of an appreciation thread rather than one to spark up debate, I think Misbah the on field captain gets a lot of flak some of it just, but most of the time totally unfair.

On field as a batsmen where some crumble under the pressure of captaincy Botham and Flintoff two players who probably weren’t as good players due to captaincy. He has risen to the occasion

Misbah-ul-Haq: 57.68 (24 matches) (according to Green Team Stats). (Test)

ODI: Batting Average of 44+ ( all time average) which is insane hoping he finally gets a 100.

Results
In terms of results white washing the World Number 1 was fantastic but being white washed away to S.A. cancels that out drawing to Zimbabwe was a debacle and the Champions Trophy to boot, he’s clearly had a rough time, but I still feel he is the right man for the job. Drawing against S.A. twice at home is not bad, beating India in India is legendary status.

Off the field

This is where I think he is doing a superb job, before with Afridi Ball biting, Inzie Oval gate 2006, etc all previous captains for a while had a really bad off the field handling of stuff, media ex players. I feel Misbah being Mr Cool, with his accent ☺ really is providing some much needed stability for Pak. In a time when our country on and off cricket needs it.

His statement about S.A. ball tampering was testament whereas every so called expert saying sue them double standards etc Misbah simple says its not our job, we were out played fair play. I just love that okay S.A. did ball tamper but crying about it makes it looks like such bad losers take it on the chin move forward, we really should have nailed S.A. in that series especially going 1-0 with their best batsmen going home, Steyn being semi fit, Smith just coming back from Injury Kallis coming back from injury.

He also has brought forward some youth into the team (agreed recently) likes of Shoaib Maqsood, Shan M ( not a big fan so far) gave Harris a debut, persisting with Ahmed S and Jamshed in ODI dropping Hafeez finally in Test. Yes he did drop Umar A for Champion Trophy but we all know in the past he is a bit of a liability ( off the field not on) I hope us getting destroyed in that trophy was a wake up call for Misbah and Umar that we need each other. Since Umar has been in smashing form ( which I am very happy he is a gun player)

So as we build in for the S.A. ODI series I say Thanks Misbah ! Although results may not say so you have done more for the Nation of Pak than many of our more celebrated stars. I will say if he can somehow win a big trophy he will be Pak 2nd greatest captain HANDS DOWN !

Few points in ODI I want to see misbah bat 3,
-I wouldn’t be so against him coming out of retirement for T20 ( bit of a dream rather than reality).
-Really hopes he gets a touch more aggressive if he can, we always play our best moments when we are fired up not on the back foot

Misbah-Ul-Haq_32089.jpg
 
The stability he has brought to the Pakistan team should not be forgotten. It's easy to forget given we haven't been embroiled in controversy for a while, but the lack of off-field embarrassments has been great.

It's so calm, we've even had a chance to take the moral high ground on ball-tampering :))
 
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I think it's just the flair which he lakes, otherwise he is the best captain after imran khan, and people will know his real worth when he will retire, and will not be their to rescue this fragile batting line up.
 
I think it's just the flair which he lakes, otherwise he is the best captain after imran khan, and people will know his real worth when he will retire, and will not be their to rescue this fragile batting line up.

Interestingly Both Imran and Misbah are from same tribe of Niazi. Imran Khan Niazi & Misbah ul haq khan Niazi
 
No, but I don't agree that Misbah has been that great in ODIs as in Test cricket.

In test cricket he knows what he is doing, which players he is selecting and why and what strategies he is using.

But in one day cricket his on field decisions have been ordinary quite a few times, team selection and combination has often been poor and he is always following rather than leading in a situation.
 
Nice post Qasim. Agree with what you said.


Thank you :) ! Being Pakistani we always want more never are happy just in our nature, but i think Misbah has done some really great things for us, i know losing the Mohali game was a killer and the WC 2007 which i wont blame him for because he alone brought us back in the game ! But in the bigger picture he is the right man for 2015 hes fitter than most guys at 25

I will add i hope misbah will come back as a administrator rather than every other non cricketing tom dick and harry which ruin our cricking structure
 
Misbah captaincy today - A+!

Just a thread to praise Misbah's on-field captaincy today.

Keeping Ajmal on for the perfect length of time
Bringing Hafeez on early
Bringing Afridi on, Afridi striking first ball
Bringing Irfan on, Irfan striking in his first over
Very tight field placings
and most importantly, realizing SA will score off Wahab and we can't afford that right now - hence keeping Wahab off the attack! (so far)

Also very much helped by our bowlers but his captaincy in its own has been very good. The only blunder I remember him making so far is falling for Hafeez's plea to review the decision vs Smith without even giving it a second of thought. That review went to waste when the plumb lbw against ABDV later on was turned down by Davis.
 
For the love of god though please keep Wahab off. The last thing we can afford right now is to release some pressure. We have bowled 5 bowlers and all 5 of them are doing well, even Tanvir for once.
 
his captaincy during bowling is always A+, the way he rotated the bowlers to take 20 SA wickets cheaply during first test was pure class.
 
Misbah captaincy today - A+!

I blame Misbah for SA's slow batting :)
 
Not to mention, he was aggressive and emotional on the field. Would like to see more of this from him.
 
Exactly. This aggression is something I always wanted to see in Misbah. He made very sharp and smart moves tonight.
 
I've been a HUGE critic of Misbah in terms of how many matches he has let off the opposition when they were on the ropes by taking off Ajmal just when he was on song but FINALLY, FINALLY today he kept Ajju on long enough to create pressure and brought on Irfan from the other end to attack as well. It is working like gangbusters, if only he had done this earlier against England & Australia too in UAE. Anyhow, der aye durust aye. Credit to MBA he's done the trick today. :14:
 
:) winning, everything will look good now!

Good come back Pakistan and Misbah!!!

Another point It's not 2 new balls and 4 fielders outside the circle rule but Pitches that are the reason for high scoring and low scoring games!!!
 
but but but..... he just brought wahab into the attack for no reason!!!!! wanna take this close i guess.
 
yeah Misbah has been awesome n perfect:)

but I'd like to see a slip when SA are 6 down for 90 odd runs..
 
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but but but..... he just brought wahab into the attack for no reason!!!!! wanna take this close i guess.

not sure if serious?

this is the only time he can bowl wahab, to make up some overs, he really can't bowl wahab at the end.
 
He might hv made the right moves but wat is the point of Wahab if he's not going to bowl? He's becoming another Malik. Can't bat, can't bowl.
 
:) winning, everything will look good now!

Good come back Pakistan and Misbah!!!

Another point It's not 2 new balls and 4 fielders outside the circle rule but Pitches that are the reason for high scoring and low scoring games!!!

Both sides have horrible batting to score big consistently even on flatter wickets. Poor display of batting from both sides even though the bowling has been good from opposition.

On Topic: I think Misbah should have continued with spinners. He had 30 overs from Afridi, Ajmal & Hafeez. SA would have been probably close to 8-9 wickets down by now.
 
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His captaincy has never been that bad. The main criticisms I have is picking too many bowlers. But dunno if that was his decision or Whatmore's. It's plain to see both Afridi and Hafeez can bowl 10. So why include another specialist bowler.

Our strength is to limit the runs. Keep down the runs, pressure will build wickets will come. It's a good strategy. Even playing Ajmal at the death works, he's incredibly hard to hit at the death and often results in wickets. Plus he's by far our best bowler in the latter stages anyway. Doing this sort of strategy for us 9/10 gives us a below par opposition score. Not Misbah's fault our batsmen can't chase it.

Hopefully next ODI we will play Afridi as a bowler and get Maqsood in. We would have won the first ODI most likely if we'd have done that.
 
His captaincy is never bad, today he was really angry though...
 
His captaincy is never bad, even his critics would agree he is very astute on the field. Just today it's been vital in getting us to the position we are in right now, very much helped by the bowlers themselves too of course.
 
Jaise bhi ho bhai, all is well when Pakistan is winning, well done!!! Hopefully they'll continue the good run and win the series! :)
 
Unleashed his inner beast and the true skipper! He showed his emotions and it looked like he really wanted to win this match,and he was helped by everyone today. Great to see.
One word for his captaincy today- Perfect!
 
One thing i was happy about was his aggresion on the field becuase some of our performances are really going downhill and we need an aggresive captain to fix this. Especially with the batting
 
Not trying to take away credit from Misbah but frankly speaking, one of those typical threads where the victory credit is given to Misbah regardless of any other player's individual contribution. And when there is a loss, EVERYONE else is to be blamed EXCEPT for Misbah.
 
Not trying to take away credit from Misbah but frankly speaking, one of those typical threads where the victory credit is given to Misbah regardless of any other player's individual contribution. And when there is a loss, EVERYONE else is to be blamed EXCEPT for Misbah.

Victory credit isn't being given to him. We're just praising him for excellent captaincy, which was just one contributing factor to the victory.
 
Misbah-ul-Haq: "It was a really good performance especially after getting out for a low score, our bowlers did the job for us again. 220-230 is a par score on this ground, whenever you score 200+ you have a chance here, especially if you get early wickets. The way Hafeez started, he bowled very well and Afridi took some important wickets and Ajmal put the pressure on. They were well supported by the fast bowlers. Tanvir got the first wicket and Irfan came back to take more wickets. We shouldn't relax after winning and we still need to improve. Our batsmen are getting good starts but aren't converting them so we need to rectify that."
 
Misbah and his captaincy

Captained really well in last 2 games when he brought Ajaml early

He brought ajmal early as well but changed him after 4 overs which was fine but i dont understand why he didnt bring him back when AB came to the crease.

Its hard to understand why he doesnt go for the kill. If AB stays gets set then its really tough to get him out.

Also what is the point to play 6 bowlers? When batting is so weak why cant we play extra batsman inplace of fast bowler? Is it me or most of the people thinks this way?
 
He always seems 'worried' about the last overs rather than captaining in the present. Ajmal isn't a death bowling expert he can pick up wickets during the early/mid overs and yet he hardly bowls during that time.
 
He always seems 'worried' about the last overs rather than captaining in the present. Ajmal isn't a death bowling expert he can pick up wickets during the early/mid overs and yet he hardly bowls during that time.

this team has no death bowler , hence why he is worried. Tanvir is a goner if a set batsman is in who can pick up his slower one

Irfan cant keep a full line

Riaz is Riaz
 
No imagination .. dull and timid. Follows same route every match
Team selection is pathetic today as well..
 
this team has no death bowler , hence why he is worried. Tanvir is a goner if a set batsman is in who can pick up his slower one

Irfan cant keep a full line

Riaz is Riaz

but if the batsman is set everyone will go for runs so its important for Ajmal to bowl when the batsman are new on the crease. He had only bowled 4 overs in first spell. He could have easily bowl 2 more when AB came on the crease.
 
but if the batsman is set everyone will go for runs so its important for Ajmal to bowl when the batsman are new on the crease. He had only bowled 4 overs in first spell. He could have easily bowl 2 more when AB came on the crease.

yeah but misbah will always be defensive, we just have to live with it, he wont change
 
True that. Not picking maqsood but choosing a failure like shafiq shows he has no imagination.

Honestly I think picking shafiq is a good move. Give him 5-7 games consecutively and then see how he does. As far as i think, he can be a very good oneday batsman if given PROPER chance.

Maqsood should have been playing inplace of Wahab
 
Lol typical reaction.

When the opposition is restricted in getting runs, captaincy is good. Else, it's bad.
Give credit to the OPPOSITION and take into consideration PITCH as well!

He has been doing the job good enough, used the bowlers well. They would have scored MUCH MORE on this surface if the captaincy and use of bowlers was bad!
 
Honestly I think picking shafiq is a good move. Give him 5-7 games consecutively and then see how he does. As far as i think, he can be a very good oneday batsman if given PROPER chance.

Maqsood should have been playing inplace of Wahab

Then it was a bad move not to play him in the first 2 ODIs after a hundred.
 
Had to be saved up for the powerplay and the final few overs. Tanvir and Ajmal are the only options they have for the final overs. South AFrica has got some hard hitting tail.

Afridi kept the moment on, and it was a good decision to bring in Irfan aswell, who troubled the batsmen..
 
Lol typical reaction.

When the opposition is restricted in getting runs, captaincy is good. Else, it's bad.
Give credit to the OPPOSITION and take into consideration PITCH as well!

He has been doing the job good enough, used the bowlers well. They would have scored MUCH MORE on this surface if the captaincy and use of bowlers was bad!

Its not a typical reaction. I feel you bring your best bowler when the batsman is new at the crease. AB is a very fine player of spin bowling. When he came, Ajmal should have been brought from one end and Irfan from other.

Also i dont see playing 6 REGULAR bowlers when your batting is weak.
 
Great captaincy.

Limited them to a chase-able total, when the batting conditions were nearly ideal.

Now job left to do with batting.
 
with Ajmal at the end you're guaranteed not to concede to many runs at the end whereas if you bring him early batters will be happy to go at 4-5rpo against him and attack Tanvir, Afridi, Riaz and Hafeez at the end. Maybe if we had Umar Gul Aj would have gotten mire middle overs
 
he never goes for the kill. We had Australia at 107-4 and stuttering in the decider last year then he took Ajmal off. Same thing in asia cup when SL were struggling.
 
the Saviour has lead us to a 4-1 thrashing from a slightly above average SA team.

What is Pakistans rank now?
 
Loses 4-0 to England
Loses 3-0 in the CT
Loses an ODI vs Zimbabwe
Loses a test vs Zimbabwe
Loses 4-1 to a weak SA team

Shameful cricketer.
 
I hate misbah's attitude ! Repeats the same statement game after game !

"batting is a worry and we really need to think about it"

When are you EVER going to think about it?
 
one of the very poor tacticians I've seen..How can you go with 6 bowlers making one of your top batsman keep wickets when you know our batting is the most weakest..Terrible captaincy to play Wahab and then replace him for Junaid..He didn't even bowl their full quota of overs..if you are playing at least give them full overs not 2-3 overs spell.

it's pity that we don't have a good replacement for him otherwise he'd not have been any where near the ODI team..been striking around 60 coming to bat at 5 since captaincy is atrocious record in the ODIs and we bash Shehzad for same thing in few games.
 
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I wish Misbah changed this strategy sometimes and not open the bowling with Hafeez.
 
This is very poor decision to give new ball to UMAR GUL!!!

He's a POOR new ball trundler and horrible against India...

Mohammad Talha should have bowled the new ball along side first few overs by Hafeez.
 
Strange decision to bowl on a batting paradise. And then giving opening overs to Hafeez after strengthening their bowling department by including Talha in.

Poor start by Pakistan.
 
Atleast let the match finish before you start your bashing on Misbah...
 
Hafeez bowling is not a bad decision at all, those saying it's bad don't know about our bowling.

We got no new ball bowler..!!

BUT Talha has new ball potential, he should've bowled instead OF GUL!
 
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