What Misbah-ul-Haq could have done differently on the field at the MCG

[sarmad1983]

I would HAVE:

1). copied the home side in setting my fields; how did we not have a gully for our opening bowlers when SS employed it through their innings; i saw at least 3 chances go begging. why was the field so spread so early in the innings; we had 430+ on the board. too easily the batsman could rotate strike.

2). realized the fact that the only way to win would be to take 20 wickets. this will require that i realize my potent weapons (Yasir and Amir) and use them in an aggressive manner. Amir and Sohail bowled well with the new ball and the latter would've had Rehshaw early, if only our slip cordon knew where to stand when sohail is bowling 125-135kph not 140+kph

3). Would have told amir to bowl more bouncers overall just to keep the batsmen on the back foot and more so in his 2nd and 3rd spells when the ball wasnt moving at all. He is very deceptive with the bouncer and that can be as deadly as raw pace when the batsmen least expects it.

4). Used Yasir in a more attacking way; bowled over the wicket to the lefties but bowl outside off, instead of middle and leg. give him protection for the cover drive and bring both edges of the bat into play (bat pad for inside edges if they defend and slip for when the lefties drive). we can still employ this... many more lefties to come

5). Should have started the bouncer barrage in Wahab's first spell and not around 50 over mark of the innings

Things i can still do...

1) keep up the bouncer barrage with wahab/amir at one end(yasir at the other end) and if it keeps reversing, bowl the odd yorkers aimed at off stump, not middle and leg. Keep mid on and mid off straighter rather than wider. DONT GIVE EASY SINGLES to either batsmen. 2 bouncers, 2 or 3 good rising deliveries chest to shoulder height and 1 to 2 yorkers each over would be an awesome mix.

2). You are not winning any test matches in AUS without Yasir being in top form and you must show trust in him to set his own fields. He has over a 100 wickets in less than 20 matches, surely he's the best leggie going around and a natural wicket taker. Nathan lyon was getting more spin and bounce than yasir!!! give him the field he wants and see him flourish.

3). keep scoring to a minimum until the new ball is due and pray Amir does a miracle.

4). If all else fails, pray for rain...LOL


your thoughts/ critique/ suggestions???

 

[Zohaib Shah]

Good suggestions. Shows exactly what Misbah could have done.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

When in Rome you do as the Romans do. He's still stuck in UAE. You can't contain teams on such true bounce pitches. Old man has no tactical nous.

 

[sarmad1983]

its not really that hard. i get we dont have the bowlers as SA do but you aint doing no one any favors making yasir bowl to a 6-3 field and not realizing he has to take 60% of your wickets if you gonna win here....

 

[Zohaib Shah]

Thats Yasir's wagon wheel against left handers. He got hit for around 44 runs on the off side where there was not much protection. Misbah should have looked at this and added some protection there.

 

[Solid Snake]

I don't know why people find this so hard to accept, but Yasir was bowling absolute garbage. Showed zero control.

You can argue tactics and strategy all you like. Yes he had the wrong field- bowling a middle and leg line to a packed leg-side is a negative tactic. By having a leg slip in place I can imagine Misbah thought he'd be able to get more spin, tickle down the leg side?

Who knows.

But irrespective, a bowler has to bowl to the field set. Yasir bowled long hops, wide half volleys, full tosses galore. It was extremely disappointing.

As well as the wagon wheel, it's worth looking at Yasir's pitch map, which I think will testify how below par he has been sadly.

 

[Solid Snake]

I would say Misbah should not have persisted with Yasir for so long actually. I think his first 10 overs went for something like 70-80 runs.

Ridiculous.

When Lyon was hit around a bit, and it seemed the batsmen had no problem negotiating him, he was promptly taken out of the attack.

There was no need to keep Yasir on, who was leaking runs and not troubling Khawaja and Warner in the least. I would say Misbah showed very little imagination, applying the same method and hoping for a different result is very poor.

The minute a new strategy was tried, Wahab pitching up and reverse got a wicket (of course Wahab being Wahab that didn't quite work out) and the short pitched stuff to Warner led to his wicket within 5 minutes.

He could have been far more creative, but just seems to be going through the motions sadly.

Not having fielders up in the circle to stop the single when Khawaja had been on 49 for half an hour just showed very poor game awareness as well. Sad times.

 

[AlphaFighter]

I find it very convenient when the bowlers bowl well, all credit goes to Misbah. When the bowlers have a bad day, Misbah gets a free pass and its the bowlers who let him down. I will be delighted with Misbah being kicked out after this series.

 

[moghul]

Really feel bad for Amir, he was middle of an excellent spell and was beating Handscome right and left and Misbal removed even the 2nd slip, he was bowling with just one slip.

Amir and Yasir would have been very successful under Imran Khan , or anyone but MIsbah.

 

[Hamza_]

He has been a joke.

 

[Asim2Good]

captain can do only a little, when none of ur bowlers can bowl with any kind of plans.
bowlers are giving 1-2 deliveries every over have written 4 all over them.

yasir have given 19x4 , 1x6 in 19 overs
Wahab 11x4 in 19 overs

 

[Abdullah719]

Really feel bad for Amir, he was middle of an excellent spell and was beating Handscome right and left and Misbal removed even the 2nd slip, he was bowling with just one slip.

Amir and Yasir would have been very successful under Imran Khan , or anyone but MIsbah.

He had bowled a five over spell, I'm guessing he was taken off for a breather with the 2nd new ball due soon. Could have bowled perhaps one more, though.

 

[New Yorker]

I would say Misbah should not have persisted with Yasir for so long actually. I think his first 10 overs went for something like 70-80 runs.

Ridiculous.

When Lyon was hit around a bit, and it seemed the batsmen had no problem negotiating him, he was promptly taken out of the attack.

There was no need to keep Yasir on, who was leaking runs and not troubling Khawaja and Warner in the least. I would say Misbah showed very little imagination, applying the same method and hoping for a different result is very poor.

The minute a new strategy was tried, Wahab pitching up and reverse got a wicket (of course Wahab being Wahab that didn't quite work out) and the short pitched stuff to Warner led to his wicket within 5 minutes.

He could have been far more creative, but just seems to be going through the motions sadly.

Not having fielders up in the circle to stop the single when Khawaja had been on 49 for half an hour just showed very poor game awareness as well. Sad times.

PPers will forever complain that Waha's mediocre stats are evidence only of the fact that captain's don't know how to use him; that he is capable of better, if only. With Yasir there is no question that he can perform, he is the second fastest ever to 100 wickets. But when his captain's (ab)use of him makes Jarrod Kimber tear out his hair in frustration, the poor results are entirely of Yasir's own doing. I say Pakistan should not have persisted so long with Misbah.

 

[KamranDestiny]

Whats happening to Yasir? He doesn't even seem to be the same bowler, he has barely bowled any wicket taking delivery since good knows how long.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Commentators have exposed him left and right. Lawry, Chappel, Clarke, Taylor. These are some of the finest cricketing brains ever in history and when they're criticizing you this much. You're pretty much garbage.

 

[Solid Snake]

PPers will forever complain that Waha's mediocre stats are evidence only of the fact that captain's don't know how to use him; that he is capable of better, if only. With Yasir there is no question that he can perform, he is the second fastest ever to 100 wickets. But when his captain's (ab)use of him makes Jarrod Kimber tear out his hair in frustration, the poor results are entirely of Yasir's own doing. I say Pakistan should not have persisted so long with Misbah.

I would say Misbah hardly ever gets a free pass, least of all from me.

We can debate the reasons for Yasir's recent poor performances. Of course tactics can and rightly should be criticised. However, I think there is a more straightforward explanation- he has been bowling in unfamiliar conditions not great for spin, where spinners historically have not done well. He will have to adapt and evolve as a cricketer.

Legside/ offside fields don't matter when you're bowling full tosses.

Even with all that said, I don't have anything against Yasir. He is a tough character who will bounce back.

All I'm saying is yesterday, he was being badly punished and should have been taken out of the attack. Doesn't matter whether you're McGrath or Marcus North, everyone has terrible days on the field.

 

[AlphaFighter]

I would say Misbah hardly ever gets a free pass, least of all from me.

We can debate the reasons for Yasir's recent poor performances. Of course tactics can and rightly should be criticised. However, I think there is a more straightforward explanation- he has been bowling in unfamiliar conditions not great for spin, where spinners historically have not done well. He will have to adapt and evolve as a cricketer.

Legside/ offside fields don't matter when you're bowling full tosses.

Even with all that said, I don't have anything against Yasir. He is a tough character who will bounce back.

All I'm saying is yesterday, he was being badly punished and should have been taken out of the attack. Doesn't matter whether you're McGrath or Marcus North, everyone has terrible days on the field.

The Pakistani think tank is utterly clueless and the abscence of a pace bowler allrounder, 5th reliable bowling option is the real killer. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if the opposition blunts Yasir and with Sohail huffing, puffing and unable to bowl with any venom in his second spell onwards, the bowlers are really stretched, we are practically just playing with Amir and Wahab with Yasir being a passenger in Australia. The reason why Yasir is being persisted with is because there are no other options and the likes of Azhar Ali, Younis Khan will not even get consideration to roll their arm over in pressure situations.

The signs were there in England where our pacers were bowled to the ground by Misbah and they tired so badly in the later spells that England were able to recover from tough situations in no time. Even Yasir was over bowled on that tour even during phases when he wasn't bowling well.

Honestly speaking, no point ranting against Misbah, he has habitually refused to evolve or budge from his Mohaling ways, but Mickey Arthur should have taken note of these observations and lessons by now and to his credit from his press conferences given his hardline against Hafeez, Irfan and his frank concerns on Sohail Khan, Imran Khan it is clear he is frustrated with the abscence of alternatives in the squad.

Perhaps Arthur is just waiting for Misbah to call it a day so that he can start calling the shots for good. I hope Sarfaraz is given the captaincy in all formats of the game, Syk has already confirmed that Arthur has more confidence in Sarfaraz as oppossed to Azhar Ali.

 

[Solid Snake]

The Pakistani think tank is utterly clueless and the abscence of a pace bowler allrounder, 5th reliable bowling option is the real killer. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if the opposition blunts Yasir and with Sohail huffing, puffing and unable to bowl with any venom in his second spell onwards, the bowlers are really stretched, we are practically just playing with Amir and Wahab with Yasir being a passenger in Australia. The reason why Yasir is being persisted with is because there are no other options and the likes of Azhar Ali, Younis Khan will not even get consideration to roll their arm over in pressure situations.

The signs were there in England where our pacers were bowled to the ground by Misbah and they tired so badly in the later spells that England were able to recover from tough situations in no time. Even Yasir was over bowled on that tour even during phases when he wasn't bowling well.

Honestly speaking, no point ranting against Misbah, he has habitually refused to evolve or budge from his Mohaling ways, but Mickey Arthur should have taken note of these observations and lessons by now and to his credit from his press conferences given his hardline against Hafeez, Irfan and his frank concerns on Sohail Khan, Imran Khan it is clear he is frustrated with the abscence of alternatives in the squad.

Perhaps Arthur is just waiting for Misbah to call it a day so that he can start calling the shots for good. I hope Sarfaraz is given the captaincy in all formats of the game, Syk has already confirmed that Arthur has more confidence in Sarfaraz as oppossed to Azhar Ali.

Solid post.

Misbah has been a great servant of Pakistan cricket, and has achieved some great things as captain. However, he was always a bit on the defensive side, and never one of the better tacticians playing the game.

Taking into account his own dip in form as a batsman, after the England series was probably a good time to call it quits. I sincerely hope we can save this match and somehow pull off a win in Sydney, and along the way Misbah can get a decent score. Essentially that he gets to leave with his head held up high.

That said, I do think it's time for a new type of captain. Sarfraz would be my pick as well.

 

[Syed1]

For starters he could have retired before the tour. That would have improved the team's performance automatically.

 

[Chrish]

Why are people acting all surprised?

India scored 400+ in both 1st innings of first 2 matches as well

Australian batsmen can score quicker than the opposition on these lifeless tracks which leaves them plenty of time to get the opposition out.

People get false hope after their team getting 400 while forgetting you aren't gonna threaten them if you can't match their run rate (which probably won't happen)

 

[Square Drive]

Retired.

 

[Junaids]

I have written on this forum for 18 months that completely different attacks are required for Melbourne, Sydney and a Pink Ball Test at Brisbane.

But Misbah doesn't understand the different wickets.

I've written for 18 months that Melbourne would have no grass and that the only way to take wickets would be to use express or very bouncy bowlers in the shortest possible spells.

I have argued for those 18 months that both Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Irfan needed to have their bowling workloads managed so that both could bowl a single 4 over spell per session at maximum pace.

I would have gone with the following team I reckon:

1. Salman Butt
2. Sami Aslam
3. Azhar Ali
4. Babar Azam
5. Asad Shafiq
6. Sarfraz Ahmed (c/wk)
7. Mohammad Amir
8. Yasir Shah
9. Wahab Riaz
10. Mohammad Asif
11. Mohammad Irfan

Yes, my team is light on batting. But only 14 wickets have been taken by bowlers in 4 days.

And my bowling plan would look like this in every session

FIRST HOUR
Mohammad Asif 6 overs
Mohammad Amir 6 overs

SECOND HOUR
Wahab Riaz 4 overs then Yasir Shah 3 overs
Mohammad Irfan 4 overs then Azhar Ali 2 overs

It's an incredibly light workload for Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Irfan. Not really any more than in an ODI. They each only bowl 8 overs out of every 50 bowled.

My bowling plan would have looked

 

[Mamoon]

Amir is not a potent weapon and he doesn't have a great bouncer. The only time he has managed to bounce out a batsman was Dilshan in the WT20 2009 Final.

He, like the other Pakistani pacers on show, is an average bowler now, while Yasir is our best bowler by far but he has been exposed overseas which was always going to happen.

All of these factors have made Misbah's job very difficult. Of course, that does not mean this his captaincy has been inspiring.

This is Misbah's worst series as a batsman and captain in a long, long time.

 

[KhalidRafi]

All very good suggestions. Misbah's captaincy has been aggressively poor in Australia.

 

[Asim2Good]

every team/captain struggling oversweas.

waht cook could have done In India?
what Smith had done different in SL recently?

And these aare tams who way too professional when compared to Pak

and what Matthew could have done in 2nd innnings of SA, when SA were taking game away from him?

 

[sarmad1983]

Whats happening to Yasir? He doesn't even seem to be the same bowler, he has barely bowled any wicket taking delivery since good knows how long.

He definitely seems he isnt 100%. we have been playing test cricket non-stop since england and hes bowled most of those overs

 

[sarmad1983]

The Pakistani think tank is utterly clueless and the abscence of a pace bowler allrounder, 5th reliable bowling option is the real killer. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if the opposition blunts Yasir and with Sohail huffing, puffing and unable to bowl with any venom in his second spell onwards, the bowlers are really stretched, we are practically just playing with Amir and Wahab with Yasir being a passenger in Australia. The reason why Yasir is being persisted with is because there are no other options and the likes of Azhar Ali, Younis Khan will not even get consideration to roll their arm over in pressure situations.

The signs were there in England where our pacers were bowled to the ground by Misbah and they tired so badly in the later spells that England were able to recover from tough situations in no time. Even Yasir was over bowled on that tour even during phases when he wasn't bowling well.

Honestly speaking, no point ranting against Misbah, he has habitually refused to evolve or budge from his Mohaling ways, but Mickey Arthur should have taken note of these observations and lessons by now and to his credit from his press conferences given his hardline against Hafeez, Irfan and his frank concerns on Sohail Khan, Imran Khan it is clear he is frustrated with the abscence of alternatives in the squad.

Perhaps Arthur is just waiting for Misbah to call it a day so that he can start calling the shots for good. I hope Sarfaraz is given the captaincy in all formats of the game, Syk has already confirmed that Arthur has more confidence in Sarfaraz as oppossed to Azhar Ali.

I agree that the selection is made with no real plan for aussies in australia. the fact that none of our top 6 can turn their arm over and bowl some offspin is mind boggling. williamson and root both can bowl part time offies. having said that and seen how badly misbah uses his bowlers, we could give him McGrath and Warne and he'd find a way to make them uneffective. DONT FORGET that yasir bowled 2 to 3 good overs and picked up a wicket, before he lost it completely due mainly to a lack of planning and guidance from the so called 'think tank'.

 

[sarmad1983]

I have written on this forum for 18 months that completely different attacks are required for Melbourne, Sydney and a Pink Ball Test at Brisbane.

But Misbah doesn't understand the different wickets.

I've written for 18 months that Melbourne would have no grass and that the only way to take wickets would be to use express or very bouncy bowlers in the shortest possible spells.

I have argued for those 18 months that both Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Irfan needed to have their bowling workloads managed so that both could bowl a single 4 over spell per session at maximum pace.

I would have gone with the following team I reckon:

1. Salman Butt
2. Sami Aslam
3. Azhar Ali
4. Babar Azam
5. Asad Shafiq
6. Sarfraz Ahmed (c/wk)
7. Mohammad Amir
8. Yasir Shah
9. Wahab Riaz
10. Mohammad Asif
11. Mohammad Irfan

Yes, my team is light on batting. But only 14 wickets have been taken by bowlers in 4 days.

And my bowling plan would look like this in every session

FIRST HOUR
Mohammad Asif 6 overs
Mohammad Amir 6 overs

SECOND HOUR
Wahab Riaz 4 overs then Yasir Shah 3 overs
Mohammad Irfan 4 overs then Azhar Ali 2 overs

It's an incredibly light workload for Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Irfan. Not really any more than in an ODI. They each only bowl 8 overs out of every 50 bowled.

My bowling plan would have looked

Although i dont agree with your playing 11, i do think that the rotation of the bowlers is spot on and the only way you will pick up 20 wickets in Aus. Wahab could have been utilized better if Misbah realized his strengths and set the field accordingly.

 

[sarmad1983]

The bouncer might not take a wicket but it will help keep the batsman on the backfoot. khawaja yesterday got out to a very poor delivery because he was on the backfoot expecting wahab to send him another bouncer. no front foot movement at all.

I reaally dont understand this "amir is average bowler now" crap; watch his spells; he has troubled every single batsman he has faced on a flat track. whether he was batting on 10,20,50, or 100 runs; the dude is pure class and the more he bowls, the better he is becoming. Misbah has always beeen a terrible captain on the field and he was lucky to have ajmal, rehman, babar, yasir, and hafeez to get him so many wickets in the UAE and win us matches. yk in top form and now azhar giving him plenty of runs. as a batsmen he is also a beast in UAE but a dud on any pitch where pace takes more wickets than spin. Misbah is a LEGEND only bcs of keeping a team united and free of controversies. once he leaves and a young aggressive minded captain like sarfaraz take over, you will really see this team blossom inshallah

 

[sarmad1983]

every team/captain struggling oversweas.

waht cook could have done In India?
what Smith had done different in SL recently?

And these aare tams who way too professional when compared to Pak

and what Matthew could have done in 2nd innnings of SA, when SA were taking game away from him?

very true that these days no one is really dominant outside their back yard but no one shoots themself in the foot like misbah has done here; we have lost in australia always but due mainly to our batting, not bowling or lack of strategy and planning. THAT is what is being discussed here...

 

[Asim2Good]

very true that these days no one is really dominant outside their back yard but no one shoots themself in the foot like misbah has done here; we have lost in australia always but due mainly to our batting, not bowling or lack of strategy and planning. THAT is what is being discussed here...

our bowling has been one of most over hyped thing in cricket, fans should realise this by now
our so called bowling went missing too when things got tough.