I agree that not a single quality ODI batsmen was produced, but it depends how you want to see it. By saying Misbah era, you could be trying to blame on Misbah.
In todays era, we have Babar Azam and Imam ul Haq as quality odi batsmen, but the rest are still the same. Yes, in todays era we can chase 300+, while during Misbah era posting 250+ was difficult, however, Misbah's captaincy would result in us winning matches where we would defend low totals
You see, Pakistan not being able to produce a quality odi batsmen was a problem that existed since 2009, It was not just Misbah era. Why was that? There are many factors.
First you have to go back to the early 2000s
In the early 2000s, new crop of batsmen were being introduced. This crop was thrown into domestic cricket and than into international cricket. We saw the likes of Farhat, Nazir, Yasir Hameed, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Malik and Taufeeq Umar come. Out of no where was PCB selecting young guys into the team. These guys for the most parts would hog the spots in the team and would keep on rotating spots. If they failed at international, these and many more guys kept their spots in the domestic circuit.
Saeed Bin Nasir, Amir Sajjad, Nauman, Naveed Latif etc were just few names that were not being given the chance at international but were always near selection. There were many batsmen at that time who would be near selection but wont make the final cut
I used to follow domestic score cards, and till this day I never understood why names like Babar Naeem, Mughal and many other names that continued to do bad in domestic cricket yet they kept their spots in their domestic team.
You see, the likes of Farhat, Nazir, Hameed kept returning as they dominated domestic cricket. There competitors were the likes of Babar Naeem who sucked but kept the spots. There were feww like Saeed Bin Nasir who would appear but wont get selected. Our Domestic Cricket was a big joke.
Eventually what happened was that by 2009, the farhats, the hameeds, the nazirs were either injured, near retirement and the PCB had enough with them.
Now after 2009 we had this void, as no young player had been in that circle and thus no one to select. You see, while this is a thread on batsmen, Pakistan had many pace bowlers that got wasted aswell. Aizaz Cheema, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Abdur Rauf were good enough bowlers. Sohail Khan was able to show his worth later in his career. Young Wahab was a good bowler and now isn't the same bowler like he was before.
Domestic cricket needed to be cleaned up. The aging seniors need in international and domestic were required to let off and be replaced with new young guys. There were no scouts that existed to bring new talents to domestic.
Post 2009
Now the void left with no players to replace in domestic would be filled when the U19 cricket world cup started to be broadcasted. The 11 guys that would end up playing in the u19 world cup would eventually not only get selected in doemstic but also get international selection aswell. Selectors didn't bother going to doemstic game and just relied on TV.
Thus, from U19 cricket we saw the likes of Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shezad, Umar Akmal, Raza Hassan, Hammad Azam emerge...
Infact, the stupidity of selecting on television games was soo much that a selector in Pakistan ended up selecting Raza Hassan and Hammad Azam directly to Pakistan team in 2010. Afridi was sane enough to not play them as he knew they were not ready players and selectors got over excited.
Misbah Era
During Misbah era the following young players would play:
Ahmed Shezad
Umar Akmal
Nasir Jamshed
Haris Sohail
Asad Shafiq
Sohaib Maqsood
Sharjeel Khan
Adnan Akmal
Sarfraz Ahmad
The problem was same during Misbah Era, domestic cricket was a mess and selectors did not bother to attend domestic games. They just saw at home and whatever match they saw on TV, the player would get selected.
The young players that I mentioned above, these players were not good quality. You cant blame Misbah if a player sucks. Umar Akmal was a pathetic batsmen and you could had seen it during the 2009-2010 season. His way of throwing his wickets is still the same. He never improved.
Ahmed Shezad was no different, and his 100 in a small ground of NZ was celebrated as if he was the answer to all our opener problems.
Nasir Jamshed was a big surprise, after how well he did against India.
Sohaib Maqsood was selected due to the media hype and we all know how bad he turned out to be. Sharjeel Khan was a struggling opener and he himself has said that Misbah told him to play his natural game.
Eventually, during Misbah era, two batsmen would emerge in odis, Haris Sohail and Sarfraz Ahmed. If there is one thing that Misbah should be blamed for it was that he didnt give Azhar Ali an extended run in the odi team.
Post Misbah Era
If you think that things improved after Misbah era, well nothing did.
What eventually happened was PSL came in 2016 and todays selection in the odi team are all PSL selections baring Babar Azam and Imam Ul Haq. PSL is broadcasted on tv and has social media hype, thus, any player who performs gets selected.
PSL selections are good and also bad.
Good thing is that young players can now come up due to the mandatory young player have to be played. And if he performs he will get selected. Hasan Ali, Shadab, Mohammad Nawaz came this way.
But the bad thing is that many players who dont deserve to be selected are getting selection. Mohammad Haris is one example. Even Haris Rauf is another one who gets a free joy ride without any domestic experience.
PSL has lead to our domestic cricket being improved because many of the oldies have now been kicked out. For Example, had Ahmad Shezad existed during the 2000-2010 era, there was no way a pllayer of his seniority would had been kicked out of domestic or been made to sit benches.
In todays domestic circuit, if a senior isnt performing he gets the bench no matter what. Be it Umar akmal or Ahmad Shezad. Thus, domestic cricket has improved in terms of having players to replace with. PSL feeds them players
The reason why we are able to score 280+ nowadays is because of Babar and Imam. Rizwan was a player that Misbah developed in SNGPL. Shadab Khan is a player that came from PSL and him being an allrounder extends our batting.
