"Why did Misbah play that shot (in 2007 WT20 final)? He could have hit it straight" : Yuvraj Singh

[Abdullah719]

"Why did Misbah play that shot (in 2007 WT20 final)? He could have hit it straight" : Yuvraj Singh

It's been 10 years now but Indians still cannot forget that night. Television images of a disconsolate Pakistani batsman Misbah-ul-Haq; contrasted with the euphoria of fans, not to forget the team, has been etched into every Indian's memory. MS Dhoni and his band of "outsiders" — this team included none of the greats: Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman — had achieved what this country had been wanting for so long, a World Cup triumph.

Looking back on this journey, Yuvraj Singh believes that an intrinsic part of the team's success in the tournament was the fact that they had failed before in major tournaments and expectations were low. "The 2003 (50 over final when India lost to Australia) and 2007 (50 over World Cup final) was an absolute nightmare, we were literally in hiding after that. After that, to come out victorious was special and that too in an India-Pakistan final, there cannot be a better way to win."

Even after the victory, Yuvraj says that neither nor his teammates realised the enormity of what they had done.

Recalling the now iconic bus ride from Mumbai airport to Wankhede stadium, he said, "When we landed in Mumbai, it was raining a little bit and lot of the guys thought that maybe no one will come out and receive us. We never expected the reception that we got in the streets... When we saw the people and the good wishes coming from all over the country did we realise the magnitude of what we had achieved."

According to Yuvraj, winning the T-20World Cup changed a lot of things for Indian cricket. From a team that was perceived as crumbling in major tournaments and not able to beat good sides regularly, the T-20 World Cup victory gave MS Dhoni and his men confidence, which resulted in the 50-over World Cup victory in 2011. This Indian team had come a long way from 2003.

Given all this, it comes as something of a surprise when Yuvraj says that the epic India-Pakistan final was not the most thrilling game in the tournament. The more exciting match, for him, was the qualifier match that India and Pakistan played in the tournament

"Both were thrilling — the final and the qualifier (match against Pakistan). I feel the qualifier match was a bit more exciting because it was a tie and it went to a bowl out and the guys who bowled for us were not regular bowlers so it was a more fun game. For me, it was a more fascinating game than the final."

But having fun and keeping cool was not always easy. India had lost a game to New Zealand and had to win all three games against England, South Africa and Australia in order to make the final. It was there that the team showed their mettle and it was here that Yuvraj — in the match against England — hit those iconic six sixes in an over.

Asked to recall the special moment, Yuvraj smiled and said, "I remember Dhoni going in to bat before me because the team had always talked about wanting a left-right hand combination at the crease. As a result, I came in with three overs to spare so I just thought I have to swing from the very first ball. It was just my day.

But Yuvraj may not have been fired up enough to hit those six sixes if it hadn't been for English fast bowler Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff. Flintoff and Yuvraj have a history and that this time too before Yuvraj took strike against Stuart Board, Fintoff had let him know what he thought of him.

"Me and Flintoff have always had heated arguments on the field. He (Flintoff) bowled two good balls and I was able to hit them for boundaries and he said something and I retaliated... When I next got on the crease I wanted to hit every ball out of the ground and that is what happened. When I was done, I smiled, and waved my bat at (English player) Dimitri Masarenhas. That was because he had hit me for five sixes in an over in a one day game."

The six sixes story is a great one. But one cannot let Yuvraj go without asking the question that every Indian cricket fan wants to know, why, just why, did MS Dhoni entrust the ball to the relatively inexperienced Joginder Sharma in the last over. "Me and MS had a chat and we felt that Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh) with his experience should bowl the last over. But Bhajji said I've been trying to hit my yorker it's not coming off, I think you should bowl a fast bowler. So MS took the call to bowl Joginder."

Post the victory, while everyone hailed Dhoni's decision to bowl Joginder, Yuvraj still feels that Misbah-ul Haq could have won Pakistan the match. "I don't know what happened to Misbah, why did he play that shot? He could have hit it straight... it's always safer to hit straight so why do you need to play that shot. Thank God for us he didn't though," said Yuvraj.

http://www.dnaindia.com/cricket/report-to-win-in-indo-pak-final-is-special-yuvraj-singh-2546955

 

[The_Odd_One]

That one shot turned Misbah from hero to zero for the majority of Pakistani fans.

 

[Suleiman]

That one shot turned Misbah from hero to zero for the majority of Pakistani fans.

2011 did. Misbah was the one player in that final who went down fighting and got us so close to the finish line.

Legends like Afridi, Malik, Hafeez, Kami all fell one after another.

It was Nazir+Misbah.

2011 was definitely want turned him to a zero for a lot of people.

But I think having the clutch gene in such a situation is very rare and he buckled under pressure. Sad that such a pragmatic man couldn't see the logic that joginder Sharma lacked the pace to be scooped all the way for 6. At best it would go up in the air.

 

[adwords]

Misbah should charge royalty rights from the BCCI for their 2.5 Billion IPL deal, he thoroughly deserves!

 

[Slog]

Pretty stupid from him

If someone asks, 'Why didn't he just take a single and give strike to rampaging Kohli in WT2014 Final?' - what would be his answer?

 

[squarecut]

Misbah should charge royalty rights from the BCCI for their 2.5 Billion IPL deal, he thoroughly deserves!

I agree. BCCI, who were reluctant to even participate in the inaugural T20 tournament suddenly found themselves obsessed with T20 after that unexpected title victory. Misbah was indeed the one who inspired T20 craze in India that led to IPL.

 

[ahmedwaqas92]

I agree. BCCI, who were reluctant to even participate in the inaugural T20 tournament suddenly found themselves obsessed with T20 after that unexpected title victory. Misbah was indeed the one who inspired T20 craze in India that led to IPL.

And since the IPL launching India have never won a T20 global title , Indians took that scoop like the Hook, line and sinker it was meant to be [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION]

 

[squarecut]

They may not have won another title, but they have hit upon a multi billion dollar money making Idea that other boards and ICC can only dream of.

 

[Proactive_]

They may not have won another title, but they have hit upon a multi billion dollar money making Idea that other boards and ICC can only dream of.

What's the point of all that money when the national team itself hasn't won the major tournament since the league's inception? I mean it has been pretty disturbingly clear for a while now that BCCI's main motive is to make money more than anything else but I just don't understand how can an average Indian cricket fan feel proud about this.. No wonder India still isn't dominating cricket despite having all the money, resources and far reaching popularity that is needed for a country to dominate a sport.

 

[squarecut]

Motive of other boards and ICC are the same. That is why they recently tried to gang up and outvoted BCCI to increase their own share of allocation and reduced BCCI's share of allocation. Average Indian fans are happy because the team has won tournaments even after that, viz 2011 World cup and 2013 champions trophy. They have reached the final or semi finals in most other tournaments, they have become number one in Tests. They have been number 1 in other formats as well. Compared to other boards, BCCI have been more successful cricket wise as well as financially.

 

[squarecut]

I do not want India to dominate cricket. In fact I want India to give up playing cricket and concentrate on other sports. Let other teams "dominate" and let India take no notice of them.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

That shot gave birth to IPL

All these Indian 'superstars' owe their lifestyle to Misbah

In all seriousness tho, there was no pace from bowler, that's what was caused the downfall.

 

[pakistanigoneaussie]

Most influential shot in cricket history

 

[Major]

Misbah made the right decision that day.

Its easy to bash him in hindsight but look at the context.

Dhoni had to bring another fielder inside the circle. He bought sreesanth inside the circle from fine leg. That place was an easy 4 or 6.

Issue was that the bowler was joginder sharma. A slow bowler with no pace. Due to no pace the ball was airborne. And became an easy catch for sreesanth.

When the ball was in the air, those were the longest 3 seconds of my life. Still remember it clearly

 

[Major]

That one shot turned Misbah from hero to zero for the majority of Pakistani fans.

Nope.

Misbah was quite famous amongest fans back in 2008.

People didnt bash him, because of what happened in the 2007 world cup. People never expected us to reach the finals of the world t20 or give a fight.

 

[Major]

Also how did that shot give birth to ipl?

ICL came in before ipl did. Ipl was a knock off of icl.

 

[Leo23]

the idea that there wouldn't have been ipl had pakistan won that final is the biggest load of nonsense i have read on this forum

it had absolutely nothing to do with the ipl. nothing at all.

 

[CanadianG00se]

Also how did that shot give birth to ipl?

ICL came in before ipl did. Ipl was a knock off of icl.

you mean IPL knocked off ICL?

 

[Noman]

Misbah made the right decision that day.

Its easy to bash him in hindsight but look at the context.

Dhoni had to bring another fielder inside the circle. He bought sreesanth inside the circle from fine leg. That place was an easy 4 or 6.

Issue was that the bowler was joginder sharma. A slow bowler with no pace. Due to no pace the ball was airborne. And became an easy catch for sreesanth.

When the ball was in the air, those were the longest 3 seconds of my life. Still remember it clearly

No, it was NOT the right decison. When fielder is inside the circle from fine leg 85 % balls in the last overs are slower bowls. If misbah have tried to hit stright it was 60/40 in misbah favours. The Bowl he Got out to was a leght slow Bowl. One of the Bowl which is easy to hits six. Misbah have scored a lot of runs of sweep but Thats shot pressure Got to him.

 

[Adil_94]

the shot was serving misbah well throughout the tournament. He backed himself to do it again and just didnt execute the shot properly. ideally yes if he played a more conventional shot Pakistan probably would have won. But thats easy to say in hindsight.

 

[Abdullah719]

Misbah made the right decision that day.

Its easy to bash him in hindsight but look at the context.

Dhoni had to bring another fielder inside the circle. He bought sreesanth inside the circle from fine leg. That place was an easy 4 or 6.

Issue was that the bowler was joginder sharma. A slow bowler with no pace. Due to no pace the ball was airborne. And became an easy catch for sreesanth.

When the ball was in the air, those were the longest 3 seconds of my life. Still remember it clearly

Exactly. And that makes it the wrong decision.

 

[Major]

No, it was NOT the right decison. When fielder is inside the circle from fine leg 85 % balls in the last overs are slower bowls. If misbah have tried to hit stright it was 60/40 in misbah favours. The Bowl he Got out to was a leght slow Bowl. One of the Bowl which is easy to hits six. Misbah have scored a lot of runs of sweep but Thats shot pressure Got to him.

Again. In hindsight easy to play the blame

but he had every reason to play that. It was a t20 shot and fine leg was inside the circle.

In hindsight you could tell what bowl he played, but at that moment he disnt know what was coming.

 

[Saj]

And with that shot, Misbah launched the IPL

 

[Savak]

Easier to understand given Misbah's rich history of choking

 

[sshakir411]

That was Misbah's safe shot. He always played it well...I remember him saying that he felt confident he won't get it wrong. I don't think he played the lap much after that.

 

[jeetu]

Sometimes players tries to get too clever and make costly mistake.
Misbah wasn't the first on this list though.
Worst shot award in WC finals goes to Mike Gatting. England were cruising in 1987 final till Mike Gatting tried to "reverse sweep" Alan Border.

 

[Major]

Easier to understand given Misbah's rich history of choking

Rewatch the autsralia vs pakistan game in the same tournamnrt

 

[Major]

That was Misbah's safe shot. He always played it well...I remember him saying that he felt confident he won't get it wrong. I don't think he played the lap much after that.

He played that shot again in the 2008 india series. Scored runs and almost got out. After 2008 he didnt play that shot

 

[zulfiqar]

That one shot turned Misbah from hero to zero for the majority of Pakistani fans.

Quite frankly, most people gained a lot of respect for Misbah that day. It was the Mohali semi-final in which his batting was unacceptable. Let's not discuss that though, it's been talked about to death -_-

And as for what Yuvraj said, Misbah has actually explained in a talkshow before that the shot he played is his "go-to" shot for situations when he is anxious or gets nervous. It's only natural that he would be getting nervous as he was in a similar situation in the qualifer game before (We needed 2 from 2) and he couldn't put one away. So he decided that he's going to make a play he's more comfortable with, and alas, in the end it did not work.

 

[waleed88]

People forget the scenario, he already bailed us out once in the group match vs India when it was Yasir Arafat and Misbah who took us home, but last ball required one run, and it went to the super over.... that was the most ridiculous set of rules and bowling performance that I saw in the bowl out..
He did it again with Asif at the other end... gotta give the guy some credit, he didn't just quit like all the others

 

[waleed88]

Misbah also said as a player that if he took that failure to his mind he will never be able to play cricket again, and you can only see some players who have taken their failure to their heart and ended up never playing for country again. Like Chetan Sharma who still to this day talks about the Miandad six.

Kudos to Misbah he fought it off, was the highest run getter vs India in the test series after that, won the same tournament with country in 2009, and when he became test captain the rest is history.
The guy is a role model for anyone who has faced failure in life and then managed to bounce back and give the country so much more

 

[backfootpunch]

Unforgivable really - had the chance to redeem himself in 2011 WC semi but went from 0 to -100.

An overrated LOI batsman who was incapable of playing match winning knocks, poor captain where he led Pakistan losing series after series in UAE and away from home, consequently going out of the top 8 rankings.

An ultra defensive batsman with an equally timid mindset. All the demons and bad memories of 2007 T20, 2011 Mohail and other countless games lost under him finally disappeared when Sarfraz showed the world how it was done.

 

[Ab Fan]

Misbah could have put that ball for six if he hit that straight!There wasn't too much pace on that ball to hit the shot he played and got out.

 

[Mp812]

Rewatch the autsralia vs pakistan game in the same tournamnrt

Misbah was the one who got Pakistan close to win but he just choked in end. But why do fans forget he at least got them there or Pakistan were 80 odd for 6 at one stage. Those 6 batters including afridi failed is ignored but guy who brought it close is crucified

 

[CricFan2012]

Unforgivable really - had the chance to redeem himself in 2011 WC semi but went from 0 to -100.

An overrated LOI batsman who was incapable of playing match winning knocks, poor captain where he led Pakistan losing series after series in UAE and away from home, consequently going out of the top 8 rankings.

An ultra defensive batsman with an equally timid mindset. All the demons and bad memories of 2007 T20, 2011 Mohail and other countless games lost under him finally disappeared when Sarfraz showed the world how it was done.

top post.

His legacy is test only, but tests are going to die soon anyways because the fast paced future demands it.

 

[Major]

Unforgivable really - had the chance to redeem himself in 2011 WC semi but went from 0 to -100.

An overrated LOI batsman who was incapable of playing match winning knocks, poor captain where he led Pakistan losing series after series in UAE and away from home, consequently going out of the top 8 rankings.

An ultra defensive batsman with an equally timid mindset. All the demons and bad memories of 2007 T20, 2011 Mohail and other countless games lost under him finally disappeared when Sarfraz showed the world how it was done.

2nd highest odi batting avg in pakistan

/end

 

[Savak]

A player of Misbah's quality did not deserve to be a WC hero.

 

[maxamax]

2011 did. Misbah was the one player in that final who went down fighting and got us so close to the finish line.

Legends like Afridi, Malik, Hafeez, Kami all fell one after another.

It was Nazir+Misbah.

2011 was definitely want turned him to a zero for a lot of people.

But I think having the clutch gene in such a situation is very rare and he buckled under pressure. Sad that such a pragmatic man couldn't see the logic that joginder Sharma lacked the pace to be scooped all the way for 6. At best it would go up in the air.

2007 was a turning point which started the rise of India as a dominant cricket nation. Pakistan could have stopped them by stopping their t20 craze leading to IPL.

As far as 2011 was concerned, the game's fate was sealed with the ban on trio in 2010. All of them could have murdered india out of the world cup. While many people point at misbah for the reason, I believe he was more or less fine with the scoring, he was playing his usual game of tuk tuking and then blasting at the end. But other players were too inexperienced to hang around him. A single thoughtful support could have turned it away as we only lost by 4-5 balls which were missed in previous overs due to lack of proper stroke maker at the other end.

 

[Suleiman]

2007 was a turning point which started the rise of India as a dominant cricket nation. Pakistan could have stopped them by stopping their t20 craze leading to IPL.

As far as 2011 was concerned, the game's fate was sealed with the ban on trio in 2010. All of them could have murdered india out of the world cup. While many people point at misbah for the reason, I believe he was more or less fine with the scoring, he was playing his usual game of tuk tuking and then blasting at the end. But other players were too inexperienced to hang around him. A single thoughtful support could have turned it away as we only lost by 4-5 balls which were missed in previous overs due to lack of proper stroke maker at the other end.

Nah man, you're romanticizing the trio a bit. No doubt Amir would've been a major upgrade on Razzaq, but Asif is not well known for his ODI exploits, and Hafeez actually did decently.

Gul choked big time as well. We needed him the most in that semi and he was on a dream run in that WC till he met Viru.

But Younis + Misbah let us down big time, as did Afridi and Umar. That was the breaking point for us in ODIs and should've made us realize how one dimensional our batting was. It was the catalyst that oversaw our decline from 2012 - 2015 in ODI cricket as a batting unit.

It took us 5 years to realize this and induct quality ODI players.

 

[yasir]

Misbah made the right decision that day.

Its easy to bash him in hindsight but look at the context.

Dhoni had to bring another fielder inside the circle. He bought sreesanth inside the circle from fine leg. That place was an easy 4 or 6.

Issue was that the bowler was joginder sharma. A slow bowler with no pace. Due to no pace the ball was airborne. And became an easy catch for sreesanth.

When the ball was in the air, those were the longest 3 seconds of my life. Still remember it clearly

That was the major issue....He already hit him for straight six, 1/2 balls ago, he could have hit two more at his pace...He barely bowled at 110 clicks, Misbah over estimated his pace

 

[waleed88]

Unforgivable really - had the chance to redeem himself in 2011 WC semi but went from 0 to -100.

An overrated LOI batsman who was incapable of playing match winning knocks, poor captain where he led Pakistan losing series after series in UAE and away from home, consequently going out of the top 8 rankings.

An ultra defensive batsman with an equally timid mindset. All the demons and bad memories of 2007 T20, 2011 Mohail and other countless games lost under him finally disappeared when Sarfraz showed the world how it was done.

Sarfraz couldn't even break into the side before 2014, a pre 2014 Sarf was taken over by Kami everytime, even an Umar Akmal with gloves was more acceptable to the management than Sarf playing as wicketkeeper bat,
and his performances were bad too. The reason Sarf became the captain and the confident player he is today is in itself a credit to Misbah.

 

[Suleiman]

That was the major issue....He already hit him for straight six, 1/2 balls ago, he could have hit two more at his pace...He barely bowled at 110 clicks, Misbah over estimated his pace

Yes. Misbah's strength is hitting trundlers and spinners for straight sixes, kind of like Dhoni. Don't mean that as an insult, because he's so good at it. But like I said, it's hard to blame the guy for that final loss when our other champions went back to the pavilion after single digits.

 

[Oxfordchamp]

if there was ever one shot that changed the course of cricket history, it got to be Misbah's scoop.the talk about changing history with one stroke..is really true in this case...Each and every person associated with IPL and indian cricket should be grateful to Misbah..

 

[SM1989]

Fakhar Zaman, Amir and Hassan Ali redeemed the ghosts of Johannesburg at the Oval on 18 June 2017

 

[Major]

That was the major issue....He already hit him for straight six, 1/2 balls ago, he could have hit two more at his pace...He barely bowled at 110 clicks, Misbah over estimated his pace

If dilshan was there he would had gotten it through. ...

But dhoni made a big blunder and his blunder helped him at the end.

That asif 4 , fielder was no where near it.

 

[maxamax]

Nah man, you're romanticizing the trio a bit. No doubt Amir would've been a major upgrade on Razzaq, but Asif is not well known for his ODI exploits, and Hafeez actually did decently.

Gul choked big time as well. We needed him the most in that semi and he was on a dream run in that WC till he met Viru.

But Younis + Misbah let us down big time, as did Afridi and Umar. That was the breaking point for us in ODIs and should've made us realize how one dimensional our batting was. It was the catalyst that oversaw our decline from 2012 - 2015 in ODI cricket as a batting unit.

It took us 5 years to realize this and induct quality ODI players.

Ban of trio was almost expected, they may be not that great but they were good enough to wash Indians out, CT 2009 was a sample and they only evolved from there. We lost the game due to lack of heads (typical collapse), Salman Butt would have loved to eat Indian bowlers out. Can't blame Umar Akmal as he played his typical brain-foggy innings, Gul was bound to go panic as he had lost it long ago. It was Amir or Asif who should have been bowling to Sehwag. Asif would have made him look like a fool.

Misbah played a calculated knock, its just that others were not able to calculate the same. Younis was never a good ODI player post his mini-ban so trio was supposed to be the focal point of that game. Both Afridi and Younis were only there due to the fact that trio was banned.

I am not going to put up conspiracy theories as mods here tend to wipe it out but their ban was almost nail in the coffin for Pakistan game.

But we had lot more control in 2007. Indian Cricket was a sleeping giant back then, we had time to stop them, the single shot costed us lot more.

 

[waleed88]

if there was ever one shot that changed the course of cricket history, it got to be Misbah's scoop.the talk about changing history with one stroke..is really true in this case...Each and every person associated with IPL and indian cricket should be grateful to Misbah..

Lets not forget this is a Misbah who just made it big for Pakistan at the age of 33, after struggling in the domestics for 7 years. If Misbah was given some confidence like this before in his career, maybe we wouldn't be seeing a guy so unsure of himself when the moment came to just grab it with both hands. He did all this with a tailender at the other end.

 

[Leo23]

[MENTION=143706]Oxfordchamp[/MENTION]

and everyone who is credited the world t20 win for ipl

for the last time

the wt20 win had NOTHING to do with the creation of the ipl

the ipl was announced by BCCI on 13th september 2007 just a day after the world t20 was started

the final was on 24th september

the ipl was in the works for a couple of years as bcci saw the potential and money in t20 cricketer quicker than other boards

now please read this again and again before blaming misbah for ipl

 

[Leo23]

People forget the scenario, he already bailed us out once in the group match vs India when it was Yasir Arafat and Misbah who took us home, but last ball required one run, and it went to the super over.... that was the most ridiculous set of rules and bowling performance that I saw in the bowl out..
He did it again with Asif at the other end... gotta give the guy some credit, he didn't just quit like all the others

misbah failed to win the group match for pakistan when we needed 1 run off 2 balls

that was an early sign that he can do a rescue job but he does not have the ability to finish games

that has been the story of misbah in limited overs

he has managed to take the team close to victory but has failed to finish the job almost every time

world t20 2007 group match and final
mohali semifinal
t20 vs england
asia cup vs sri lanka
and there are numerous other examples as well

 

[Leo23]

And with that shot, Misbah launched the IPL

how did that shot launched the ipl when the ipl was announced 11 days before misbah played that shot?

 

[Leo23]

Why is Misbah blamed for the creation of the IPL?

when his famous scoop shot was played 11 days after the IPL was announced?

IPL was announced by the bcci on 13th september 2007

the wt20 final was played on 24th september 2007

so what has misbah got to do with it?

are people really so naive to think that the ipl would not have been a success had pakistan won that final and all the sponsors and actors would not have come in with their money?

misbah haters (i am not a fan either for the record) have been repeating this myth for 10 years now and it seriously defies logic

that shot of misbah had no consequences other than kick starting dhoni's captaincy career with a trophy

but even had he lost that final he would still have gone on to have a successful captaincy career

 

[Proactive_]

ICL has got more to do with the creation of IPL than any tournament win or any individual. You really think a money scrounging board like the BCCI would let go of an opportunity to make money due to the result of one match? T20 would have taken off in India no matter the result of the Finals.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Cos we like to link up everything with everything.

Everything must have a cause that we can see.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Cos we like to link up everything with everything.

Everything must have a cause that we can see.

Basically this. Haters blame him for that and fans say: 'Ok, whatever'.

 

[Oxfordchamp]

The world cup win certainly gave the IPL the boost it needed in its first year...it's a universally acknowledged fact...

 

[FreePalestine]

Nah man, you're romanticizing the trio a bit. No doubt Amir would've been a major upgrade on Razzaq, but Asif is not well known for his ODI exploits, and Hafeez actually did decently.

Gul choked big time as well. We needed him the most in that semi and he was on a dream run in that WC till he met Viru.

But Younis + Misbah let us down big time, as did Afridi and Umar. That was the breaking point for us in ODIs and should've made us realize how one dimensional our batting was. It was the catalyst that oversaw our decline from 2012 - 2015 in ODI cricket as a batting unit.

It took us 5 years to realize this and induct quality ODI players.

I agree with everything you have said here. Will only add that Pakistan lost by a small margin in Mohali, and Fawad Alam was in peak form at that time. I am convinced if Fawad Alam had played in that game, we would have won. I said it at the time, and I still believe it now.

But our 'elders' in the PCB knew best... since their ego's are more important than giving deserving players opportunities.

 

[ethan hunt]

Dhoni is one of my favourite cricketers but i find it amusing how he gets the credit for the Jogindar Sharma move .
He was literally forced to do it since Harbhajan Singh chickened out . He wanted Harbhajjan to bowl but Harbhajjan was too scared after the thrashing he had received from Misbah in the two previous games.

Not the only time Harbhajjan refused to bowl . He did it against England later on .

 

[Stallion__]

He played that shot again in the 2008 india series.

And this is what happened then

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSt90rLRoK4&feature=youtu.be&t=5085

1:24:45

 

[waleed88]

misbah failed to win the group match for pakistan when we needed 1 run off 2 balls

that was an early sign that he can do a rescue job but he does not have the ability to finish games

that has been the story of misbah in limited overs

he has managed to take the team close to victory but has failed to finish the job almost every time

world t20 2007 group match and final
mohali semifinal
t20 vs england
asia cup vs sri lanka
and there are numerous other examples as well

Yes he may have a problem getting over the line, like it is for him to get a century... which he was never able to do, and even in the last games he got out in the 90s a couple of times

 

[backfootpunch]

2nd highest odi batting avg in pakistan

/end

A poor attempt to sell PPers that your hero is the 2nd or among the best ODI batsman in Pakistan history.

An irrelveant stat really when you consider he failed to score a hundred correlating to the lack of match winning innings but what really disturbs me with this kind of misleading information from his fans is the exclusion of the horrendous SR of 70 when he played in an era where 300+ was scored frequently.

Not even close to a top 10 ODI all time Pak batsman even with his "prolific" ODI average...

 

[backfootpunch]

Yes he may have a problem getting over the line, like it is for him to get a century... which he was never able to do, and even in the last games he got out in the 90s a couple of times

These are correlated and explains why he wasn't a matchwinner for Pak. There is no legacy for him in ODIs.

 

[waleed88]

These are correlated and explains why he wasn't a matchwinner for Pak. There is no legacy for him in ODIs.

25/36 50s in 2012-13 came in winning causes. On top of that one of the highest run getters in 2013 as well, but yea sure he wasn't a matchwinner in big games, alot of big players aren't.
AB, Kohli etc (not saying he is as good as them), you should get my point

 

[waleed88]

A poor attempt to sell PPers that your hero is the 2nd or among the best ODI batsman in Pakistan history.

An irrelveant stat really when you consider he failed to score a hundred correlating to the lack of match winning innings but what really disturbs me with this kind of misleading information from his fans is the exclusion of the horrendous SR of 70 when he played in an era where 300+ was scored frequently.

Not even close to a top 10 ODI all time Pak batsman even with his "prolific" ODI average...

When you are sandwiched with Sharjeel/NJ, Ahmed Shehzad, Hafeez as openers,
with the mercurial Afridi and Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood lower down the order,
A tail that has 4 bowlers who can hardly bat, Irfan, Wahab, Ajmal, Rahat Ali/Junaid Khan.
You can't do much in terms of strike rate..

Countless times I saw the team lose on a good start,
and the team falter in top order... those chronic problems didnot go away until these hacks were removed from the side

 

[waleed88]

Which of Umar Akmal, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq Umar Amin Nasir Jamshed, Shehzad, Sohaib Maqsood,Imran Farhat are in the team right now?
These are some of the names that had a really big in Misbah's era, you can check the PP for interviews from 2011-16... alot of false promises, these are some of the names Misbah had to contest with as a captain of the side, these rubbish names were the golden boys back then. What they did as players is not even close to International standard.
They might have won you the odd match, but the damage these names brought to the Pakistan ODI circuit is much bigger than what they did winning a few games

 

[ToeCrusher2]

Pretty stupid from him

If someone asks, 'Why didn't he just take a single and give strike to rampaging Kohli in WT2014 Final?' - what would be his answer?

Nothing stupid about it, Yuvi didn't take a singe and give strike to kohli because he was unable to, he was in terrible form and couldn't put bat to ball, it was out of his control, whereas misbah was a set batsman who was timing the ball beautifully and had scored big sixes through proper cricketing shots. So it was pretty stupid of misbah to go for a scoop when he could have easily cleared the boundary with a straight batted shot. Yuvi is right to question misbah's brainfade

 

[backfootpunch]

Sarfraz couldn't even break into the side before 2014, a pre 2014 Sarf was taken over by Kami everytime, even an Umar Akmal with gloves was more acceptable to the management than Sarf playing as wicketkeeper bat,
and his performances were bad too. The reason Sarf became the captain and the confident player he is today is in itself a credit to Misbah.

I don't know if you were able to track down a thread which was active on here 1 -2 months ago where Misbah and Pakistan management were actually be blamed by PPers including Admin for not trying out Sarfraz and not giving him the confidence that he deserved.

I mean seriously what defence is there for Misbah relucting to pick Sarfraz to open and keep wicket in 2015 WC until Umar's got exposed?

If anything Sarfraz's confidence would have taken a hit under Misbah but he has triumphed because he has played with heart and fearless brand of cricket in total contrast to the former.

 

[backfootpunch]

When you are sandwiched with Sharjeel/NJ, Ahmed Shehzad, Hafeez as openers,
with the mercurial Afridi and Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood lower down the order,
A tail that has 4 bowlers who can hardly bat, Irfan, Wahab, Ajmal, Rahat Ali/Junaid Khan.
You can't do much in terms of strike rate..

Countless times I saw the team lose on a good start,
and the team falter in top order... those chronic problems didnot go away until these hacks were removed from the side

Misbah was a proponent of a defensive brand of batsmanship - it was inevitable the team was going to get bogged down and wickets were gonna fall. Game was over before Umar Akmal and Afridi has time to turn things around - not to say that I'm a fan of those 2 either by any stretch of imagination.

Azhar Ali himself said Misbah's game plan was to score 260 and he believed he could defend anything around that with Ajmal in the side. A poor vision for a captain of an international side - fair enough if you lose but at least show some intent with bringing the team in line with modern standards required in limited overs cricket with the bat.

Pakistan's ODI teams of the future will continue to outperform the one of Misbah's.

 

[CanadianG00se]

Biggest Question should've asked this nutjob was "why did he choked in WT20 Final in 2014?"

Yuvi should've retired back then after played one of the worst innings any player could play in T20. Instead he came back with lot of influence and connection and cost India many more games. Such a shameless and disgraceful individual. Im so glad that BCCI finally got rid of him. All the praise he got from fans for Winning 2011WC have disappeared over the years.

 

[backfootpunch]

25/36 50s in 2012-13 came in winning causes. On top of that one of the highest run getters in 2013 as well, but yea sure he wasn't a matchwinner in big games, alot of big players aren't.
AB, Kohli etc (not saying he is as good as them), you should get my point

I have watched every Pakistan ODI game within this period and 80 - 90% of the reason why Pakistan won these was because the bowling was superb keeping contests low scored with Irfan, Junaid, Gul, Afridi, Hafeez and most effective of the lot Ajmal.

Misbah did play some match saving knocks to give bowlers something to defend and could chase small totals after the bowling out opposition cheaply but that isn't the same as scoring match winning knocks i.e. pivotal to setting up healthy totals or chasing a high score.

 

[waleed88]

I have watched every Pakistan ODI game within this period and 80 - 90% of the reason why Pakistan won these was because the bowling was superb keeping contests low scored with Irfan, Junaid, Gul, Afridi, Hafeez and most effective of the lot Ajmal.

Misbah did play some match saving knocks to give bowlers something to defend and could chase small totals after the bowling out opposition cheaply but that isn't the same as scoring match winning knocks i.e. pivotal to setting up healthy totals or chasing a high score.

Healthy chase is always a team effort, it is never upto one individual, when Pakistan chased down a big total, like vs Bangladesh, it was Shehzad, Afridi and Fawad Alam who were the main anchors...
otherwise Pakistan as a country has been poor chasers, even now we chase poorly, the only game we lost in CT was a 300 run chase. So that doesn't apply to just Misbah, we have been poor chasers as a team since the 90s.. except under Inzi as captain

 

[waleed88]

Misbah was a proponent of a defensive brand of batsmanship - it was inevitable the team was going to get bogged down and wickets were gonna fall. Game was over before Umar Akmal and Afridi has time to turn things around - not to say that I'm a fan of those 2 either by any stretch of imagination.

Azhar Ali himself said Misbah's game plan was to score 260 and he believed he could defend anything around that with Ajmal in the side. A poor vision for a captain of an international side - fair enough if you lose but at least show some intent with bringing the team in line with modern standards required in limited overs cricket with the bat.

Pakistan's ODI teams of the future will continue to outperform the one of Misbah's.

The game only got over because Afridi and Akmal lacked the tenacity to stay on the crease for more than 5 overs

 

[waleed88]

I don't know if you were able to track down a thread which was active on here 1 -2 months ago where Misbah and Pakistan management were actually be blamed by PPers including Admin for not trying out Sarfraz and not giving him the confidence that he deserved.

I mean seriously what defence is there for Misbah relucting to pick Sarfraz to open and keep wicket in 2015 WC until Umar's got exposed?

If anything Sarfraz's confidence would have taken a hit under Misbah but he has triumphed because he has played with heart and fearless brand of cricket in total contrast to the former.

Umar was selected as keeper because Umar's inclusion allows an extra batsman in the side, so instead of six you had 6 top order batsman and then 4 bowlers and afridi

Keenness was to include Nasir Jamshed becasue of his heroics against 'India' in 2012... which failed utterly and miserably, so did inclusion of Younis Khan

 

[waleed88]

This wasn't a recent mindset but one that was in effect since 2013, Umar's new role gave him more space as a batsman since he was a keeper too

 

[shane]

As a batsman, Misbah was a classic choker. I remember after that final in 2007 the commentators on Sky sports making the same point as Yuvraj - that ball was asking to be hit straight for six.

 

[90MPH]

He was trying to be too clever.

Simple as that, and that can happen in 20/20 especially in the last over chasing a score.

He should have kept it simple obviously, especially against that Pie chucking bowler but that's cricket and we should move on now. Forgive and forget.

 

[Major]

A poor attempt to sell PPers that your hero is the 2nd or among the best ODI batsman in Pakistan history.

An irrelveant stat really when you consider he failed to score a hundred correlating to the lack of match winning innings but what really disturbs me with this kind of misleading information from his fans is the exclusion of the horrendous SR of 70 when he played in an era where 300+ was scored frequently.

Not even close to a top 10 ODI all time Pak batsman even with his "prolific" ODI average...

Interesting. Highest batting avg but according to this guy not even in the top 10. Wow

 

[Hasan123]

I think he has made up for it since. He should have looked to hit the ball straight as he was timing the ball really well. Let's be honest he gave us a chance of winning when we thought the game was up.

 

[backfootpunch]

Interesting. Highest batting avg but according to this guy not even in the top 10. Wow

Javed Miandad
Zaheer Abbas
Imran Khan
Asif Iqbal
Saeed Anwar
Inzamam
Moyo
Ijaz Ahmed
Saleem Malik
Abdul Razzaq

In no particular order out of all retired ODI batsman to play for Pakistan - this is my top 10 but there are many others not on the list who are also much better than him.

You can't argue that Misbah was better than of those names above and also nearly all the batsman in current Pakistan team batting from 1-6 are better than him. I would take Fakhar, Babar, Sarfraz, Azhar Ali and Shoaib Malik over Misbah any day.

Between Misbah and Hafeez it's a close run thing, the former being more consistent but doesn't take the team over the line and the latter hopeless against quality pace and has a record of poor scores outside SC - both would be a nightmare in the same team and the major reason why Pakistan were so hopeless with the bat.

 

[Leo23]

I think he has made up for it since. He should have looked to hit the ball straight as he was timing the ball really well. Let's be honest he gave us a chance of winning when we thought the game was up.

he hasn't in limited overs

mohali was his chance for redemption and he blew it

 

[Leo23]

Interesting. Highest batting avg but according to this guy not even in the top 10. Wow

misbah has no legacy in limited overs

he has cost pakistan a world t20 and a world cup and he left with the team ranked at the bottom

yes he won series in india and south africa but they were 3 match series and his individual contribution was not significant

one of our worst ever odi captains and a mediocre odi batsman with a pathetic strike rate and absolutely no impact and match winning performances

one asia cup win is not enough to cancel the damage he did to pakistan cricket in limited overs