Taking Pakistan’s greatest ever Test team for granted

When Misbah, Younus will say farewell then Pakistan will realise what it had taken for granted

KARACHI: By the time day two ended in the second Test against the West Indies, the match was virtually over as a contest. In just two days and one-and-a-half innings, Pakistan had ground their opponents into dust.

The hosts had claimed two quick wickets to leave the Windies 106-4, replying to Pakistan’s 452, to ensure they went into the day’s end with all the momentum behind them.

Day three began as everyone expected; the hosts suffocated the visitors in the desert heat and wicket fell after wicket.

Those watching at home had seen this happen before — for them, Misbahul Haq’s men had pulled off the extraordinary so many times that it had become commonplace.

The two wins so far have been written off as being down to the mediocrity of the touring West Indies line-up. But as the sporting adage goes; you can only beat what’s in front of you. And against a West Indies side considered almost beneath Pakistan, the team has nothing to gain but everything to lose. Win and it is taken for granted, fail and the world comes crashing around your very ears.

But in dismissing these achievements, Pakistan’s many cricket lovers are doing disservice to their team as well as to themselves.  The opposition may be weak but nothing should be taken away from this side.

It is by far the greatest team to come out of these shores, and arguably even the best ever from all of Asia.

In Younus Khan they have, without hyperbole, one of the finest Test batsmen the world has ever seen.

Skipper Misbahul Haq, all of 42, is Pakistan’s greatest cricketing schemer, and every few months decides to break his own record of being the country’s oldest ever centurion. In 48 Tests as captain, the great Imran Khan won 14 matches. Misbah has won 24 in the same number of Tests.

But these two grand old men are not the only ones who can lay claim to an ever-lasting place in Pakistani folklore. Asad Shafiq is the country’s most prolific number six batsman; a fine accomplishment for a batsman that never was a number six to begin with. Sarfraz Ahmed is the best wicketkeeping batsman Pakistan have ever produced. Yasir Shah, if he continues this way, can put Pakistan’s holy trio of leg-spinners — Messrs Abdul Qadir, Mushtaq Ahmed and Danish Kaneria — in the shade.

The team is chock-full of worldbeaters and the men waiting on the sidelines are not too shabby either. Pakistan rested pace spearheads Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz for the second Test but Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali flourished in their absence. Youngsters Sami Aslam, Babar Azam and Mohammad Nawaz have all impressed in their brief careers.

Pakistan have played nine series in the UAE as their adopted home, and they have lost none of them — the only unbeaten team at home in these five years.

The team hasn’t lost a series, home or away, since August 2014 — the longest current unbeaten run — despite touring Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and England, and hosting Australia, New Zealand, England and the West Indies.

This success, ignored and oft overlooked, is built on what has historically been considered the team’s biggest weakness — a solid and reliable batting unit.

In the unbeaten period, seven Pakistani batsmen average 50 or over; more than any other team. While the ODI team continues to struggle with failure to convert starts, the Test team is quite the opposite. Of the 67 times these seven men have crossed 50, they have scored centuries a whopping 33 times; at a rate of virtually 1:1. Younus, that rarest of players, has nine centuries from 11 scores of 50 or more.

The world is waiting for these players to be shown up in Australia at the end of the year, but against England they have already shown they are no one-trick pony.

On Sunday they take to the field against West Indies and are almost certain to whitewash them. These men have provided Pakistan cricket fans with the one thing no other team has ever been able to — stability and reliability. If your life ever depended on a Pakistani team, then you can bet your life you would bet your life on this one.

When the biggest criticism that can be levied on a side is the quality of their opponent, you know they have achieved something truly special.

There will come a time when the likes of Misbah and Younus say farewell to the sport they have left an indelible mark on, and it will be then that Pakistan as a nation realises that what it had taken for granted was remarkable indeed.

Enjoy this, ladies and gentlemen, for this is history in the making; this is Misbah and his men.