Tough times ahead for the Pakistan Test team after the retirements of Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan?

[ExpressPacer]

No matter how much you hate them, dislike them or despise them - there is no denying in the fact that Misbah and Younis are the main reasons why the Pakistan Test cricket team met the successes that it did.

They formed UAE into an absolute fort with no ways in. Pakistan was unbeatable there for about 5-6 years now. We beat the No.1 South African side in a test, white washed both England and Australia and many other Test wins.

Now this begs the question, are we about to see a Sri Lanka 2.0 all over again? With the retirements of Sangakkara and Jayawardene, Sri Lanka have gone into a never ending revival phase. Longer than expected. They are a shadow of their former selves and on the brink of being called minnows with a recent lost test to Bangladesh at Home.

Will Pakistan see the same fate given our strongest players of spin, our geniuses compared to the mental midgets we have, our legends are retiring (finally)? Or do the likes of Sarfraz, Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq have it in them to take Pakistan to heights never seen before?

 

[JibranAnsari]

Definitely. Pakistan has no good batsmen coming up and fast bowlers factory has been shut down a long ago. A few half decent bowlers and a few average batsmen we are bound be number 8 soon.

 

[ExpressPacer]

Definitely. Pakistan has no good batsmen coming up and fast bowlers factory has been shut down a long ago. A few half decent bowlers and a few average batsmen we are bound be number 8 soon.

Yes. We criticized these two like no tomorrow but the void will surely be felt. Looks like Pakistan will be a minnow in both longer formats of the game.

 

[MenInG]

Tough times ahead for the Pakistan Test team

It is not easy to lose your top batsmen and then continue with business as usual. Not many teams can handle this kind of upheaval and whether its the PCB or the 2 players to blame for lack of foresight, the fact remains that we are in trouble.

Seems that the PCB has little control over matters and they really should have asked YK to wait a little longer. Seems there is only talk about milestones but no real worry about Pakistan.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">To lose one of them due to retirement was bad. But both Misbah & Younis retiring at the same time is terrible news <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/RkemoGwk7Y">pic.twitter.com/RkemoGwk7Y</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/850617892718743552">April 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Pete Rose]

Teams have lost bigger players en masse and bounced back.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

As Younis mentioned, there is pressure on him to delay his retirement. But I'd say he has earned right to announce his retirement.

Pakistan's test team will take a lot of time to recover from loss of YK/Misbah. But Pakistan cricket will be fine the team has endured so many setbacks in past decade. We shall rise, Insha'Allah.

 

[Nil Dhumrojal]

need not to worry for the test team at all

 

[Moiza]

I think we will be fine, we have players like sami, babar and fawad who'll fill in the gaps.

 

[b.lesner]

Fawad Alam and Usman Salahuddin are perfect ready mate replacements

 

[JibranAnsari]

Today or a year after.. Its better to give new players some time before they play against england next year.

There is no denying though that younis khan is last of pakistans legends and we will be ordinary team after he retires.

 

[pakistani pride]

They both were present down under. What happened? Same old story.

I fully expect the likes azhar, asad, sarfaraz, haris, fawad etc to pile on the runs in the uae.

 

[Mamoon]

We have the batsmen to score runs in the UAE/Asia and Younis failed outside Asia 14 out of 17 times last year, which is about 82%. Misbah himself has been irrelevant with the bat in Australia and South Africa. The strengths and weaknesses of our Test team will remain intact. The wheels will not come off after their retirement as some are predicting. Both are walking away at the right time.

 

[Adil_94]

Yeah i think we will have a struggling transition period like Lanka have since Sanga and Jaya retired. Will be upto the likes of Babar Azhar and Shafiq to step up for us now in Tests.

Our unbeaten run in UAE could also come under threat. Misbah and YK were irrepresible in the UAE with their consistency.

 

[Pete Rose]

Exciting times ahead.

 

[FlickedOffHips]

It was coming to be fair. Being reliant on two players who's average age is 41, is not sustainable.

 

[sarthak]

Not quite. Pakistan has enough depth in their spin bowling (yasir, shadab etc) to play well and compete in at least home conditions. I would in fact say that now, ALL the 4 sub continent teams have decent spinners to dominate foreign teams at home and I don't think this fact will change with the retirement of Misbah and YK.

The batting could see a few more collapses but I think with the development of Azhar (Shafiq to a lesser extent) that could be cushioned. Mind you, Sri Lanka is showing some signs of improvement and I don't think there is anything to be mocked at if you try promising youngsters, they will eventually come good.

The series wth BD and SL this year will give a good idea of how the new look Pak team stacks up. Spin will be a pretty important factor in both the series.

 

[FlickedOffHips]

Dear PCB,

We'll have that series now.

Yours truly,
BCCI

 

[Pete Rose]

I think Misbah's captaincy has become jaded since the end of the england tour. That was the time to go. And yes his delayed departure had an impact on the the team results in ANZ. So I am looking forward to a change of guard. Whether Sarfaraz will be be in the test team a year from now, let alone be captain, is a serious question.

 

[Boi]

It all depends on how the two major investments Azhar and Asad do. Both of them need to step up now and bat like the senior men they will be in the lineup. Azhar's career has started to kick on but I'm worried about Shafiq. He hasn't shown the consistency that he should be having by this stage in his career. Hopefully the added responsibility will help in that regard and not be a hindrance.

 

[Pete Rose]

Dear PCB,

We'll have that series now.

Yours truly,
BCCI

They will unretire.

 

[Pete Rose]

It all depends on how the two major investments Azhar and Asad do. Both of them need to step up now and bat like the senior men they will be in the lineup. Azhar's career has started to kick on but I'm worried about Shafiq. He hasn't shown the consistency that he should be having by this stage in his career. Hopefully the added responsibility will help in that regard and not be a hindrance.

He has been disappointing last year, younis like. Standout innings without consistency.

 

[FlickedOffHips]

They will unretire.

Then the series is off

 

[Haseeb 22]

No matter how much you hate them, dislike them or despise them - there is no denying in the fact that Misbah and Younis are the main reasons why the Pakistan Test cricket team met the successes that it did.

They formed UAE into an absolute fort with no ways in. Pakistan was unbeatable there for about 5-6 years now. We beat the No.1 South African side in a test, white washed both England and Australia and many other Test wins.

Now this begs the question, are we about to see a Sri Lanka 2.0 all over again? With the retirements of Sangakkara and Jayawardene, Sri Lanka have gone into a never ending revival phase. Longer than expected. They are a shadow of their former selves and on the brink of being called minnows with a recent lost test to Bangladesh at Home.

Will Pakistan see the same fate given our strongest players of spin, our geniuses compared to the mental midgets we have, our legends are retiring (finally)? Or do the likes of Sarfraz, Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq have it in them to take Pakistan to heights never seen before?

What do you mean heights never seen before? If they manage to maintain the success the test team had with Misbah and YK then thats job well done. Why are you expecting more from these lot? I am very angry at your post.

 

[Haz95]

What do you mean heights never seen before? If they manage to maintain the success the test team had with Misbah and YK then thats job well done. Why are you expecting more from these lot? I am very angry at your post.

Lad it's not that deep)

Anyway, only Sarfraz is now capable of playing quality spin in the Pakistan test team and maybe Shafiq to a lesser extent...

The Bangladesh series should be really interesting for Pakistan.

 

[ExpressPacer]

[/B]

What do you mean heights never seen before? If they manage to maintain the success the test team had with Misbah and YK then thats job well done. Why are you expecting more from these lot? I am very angry at your post.

Haha, I'm sorry Haseeb Bhai. I'm sorry for hurting your feelings.

 

[Saj]

I have said this for years. Misbah and Younis' value will become evident after their retirements.

 

[Kianig89]

Test XI post Misbah n YK era

Shehzad
Sami
Azhar
Babar
Sarfraz +c
Shafiq
Salahudin/Harris/Nawaz

Sarfraz has to bat at 5 to sail those middle overseas 40th-80th

 

[ExpressPacer]

There's one thing that the haters don't understand, no matter how "bad" you think Misbah and Younis were overseas, at least they performed ONCE, if not more times in a series. And once that one time came, it was HUGE. Misbah had a remarkable series in England, and so did Younis. I don't expect anyone in the domestic set up or the current team to have it in them to play the longer innings - they don't have the fight, the grit, the patience. They cannot save the team from humiliation. They cannot save a Test. They can't go on those epic blockathons we've been accustomed to from the likes of these two great men.

 

[Saj]

On what basis are people saying Ahmed Shehzad should be the regualr Test opener?

 

[Sachin136]

We have the batsmen to score runs in the UAE/Asia and Younis failed outside Asia 14 out of 17 times last year, which is about 82%. Misbah himself has been irrelevant with the bat in Australia and South Africa. The strengths and weaknesses of our Test team will remain intact. The wheels will not come off after their retirement as some are predicting. Both are walking away at the right time.

Exactly, even Hafeez and Shehzad can replace them and still do well for Pakistan in UAE.

 

[phoenix363]

I have said this for years. Misbah and Younis' value will become evident after their retirements.

I don't think anyone has doubted their value and how amazing they have been.

But we cannot expect them to play forever and they had both unfortunately passed their expiry date and left a little too late. (This does not mean they didn't have a couple more good innings left in the tank, but that is not how retirement works).

 

[Saj]

I don't think anyone has doubted their value and how amazing they have been.

Plenty have. Give it 6 months and those same people will be saying we wish YK and Misbah were still around.

 

[phoenix363]

On what basis are people saying Ahmed Shehzad should be the regualr Test opener?

Since he is in the squad, has performed in domestic, has been fairly decent in Test matches and it is clear from his game that what little talent /potential he has, is more suited to the Test format and he should be kept away from limited overs cricket.

Having said that, it was a travesty Sami Aslam was dropped and most posters here agree that he deserves to open with Azhar, but given that the selectors think otherwise, some realism is good.

I actually hope Shehzad does well and is paired with Aslam, with Azhar moving down to 3 to control the middle order better. Babar and Shafiq can then fill in the void left by Younis Misbah with a young player given the chance to develop at 6 like Shafiq was.

 

[phoenix363]

Plenty have. Give it 6 months and those same people will be saying we wish YK and Misbah were still around.

Like I said, I think this is more down to their recent performance and retiring too late. We all know the figures of how terrible their record has been in away games recently. Many feel (and I agree) that could have been some valuable exposure for a young batsman who could have done at least as well.

 

[Hasan123]

Younis is difficult to replace but Misbah as a batsmen is replaceable. I am a fan of his but he was limited vs pace and has struggled in the recent overseas tours.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Since he is in the squad, has performed in domestic, has been fairly decent in Test matches and it is clear from his game that what little talent /potential he has, is more suited to the Test format and he should be kept away from limited overs cricket.

Having said that, it was a travesty Sami Aslam was dropped and most posters here agree that he deserves to open with Azhar, but given that the selectors think otherwise, some realism is good.

I actually hope Shehzad does well and is paired with Aslam, with Azhar moving down to 3 to control the middle order better. Babar and Shafiq can then fill in the void left by Younis Misbah with a young player given the chance to develop at 6 like Shafiq was.

hafeez will come to own the no.3 spot in tests as well...and may be anwar ali will also make a test debut as an allrounder ....more exciting times ahead for pakistan...

 

[PakLFC]

The absence of Misbah and Younis leaves us with an even more fragile batting line up. After Inzi and Yousaf retired we at the time had hope in Younis. Only one I can think off now is Azhar Ali who himself is not properly established in the side. Can be a few difficult years for the Pak test side in particular. I have no hope that Umar Akmal will rise to the occasion.

 

[bilalmasaud]

Dear PCB,

We'll have that series now.

Yours truly,
BCCI

lol made me laugh out loud in the office mate !! thanks for that

 

[bilalmasaud]

younis khan averaged close to 60 in australia series close to 50 in england series and close to 70 in west indies series only failed series was the kiwi series. .. some people don't really know where to appreciate ... and its not only his runs ... younis has always lifted the game of those batting with him at the crease ...

 

[moghul]

I looking forward the good time ahead for Pakistan cricket , after, Misbah retired, finally. I'm still optimistic about talent in Pakistan domestic cricket and I'm sure soon someone with more positive approach and positive mindset will take the Misbah's spot.