Farhat is bowled by Morris during the ICC Champions Trophy Group B match. PHOTO: REUTERS
Pursuing, in Misbah's words, "a gettable" target of 235 against South Africa, Pakistan collapsed to 167 all out during a 67-run defeat by the Proteas in a day/night clash at Edgbaston on Monday.
This followed their slump to 170 all out in an opening two-wicket Group B loss to the West Indies at The Oval last week.
Now even victory over arch-rivals India at Edgbaston on Saturday may not be enough to take Pakistan through to the last four.
The 39-year-old Misbah made a career-best 96 not out against the West Indies and was again Pakistan's top-scorer on Monday with 55.
Nasir Jamshed followed up his 50 at The Oval with 42 at Edgbaston but Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik again all fell for single figure scores.
And bringing in Umar Amin for Asad Shafiq, out for nought against the West Indies, made little difference with the newcomer only managing 16 on Monday.
Misbah was jeered by an overwhelmingly pro-Pakistan 25,000 capacity crowd at the post-match presentation ceremony, not that he had any complaints about his reception.
"One day it is 'Pakistan Zindabad' (long live Pakistan), the next day it is boos," Misbah told reporters.
"When you produce these sort of performances, they (the fans) have the right to say this. The players need to take responsibility.
"If you are not delivering as a player, the team will suffer. At the moment, no-one is justifying their place in the team. No-one is getting runs.
"You think about selection after the tournament. We thought these were the best six batsmen in Pakistan when we came here.
"Again, it is about application and batsmen applying themselves. All the responsibility lies with the players.
"It's really difficult when your batting is performing like that. It's really disappointing."
What made Misbah really upset on Monday was that the condition of a dry pitch, far from being typically English, was akin to those his side played on at home.
"Even in mid-innings, it was less than six-an-over and it was very much like a Pakistan pitch," he said.
"We've played time and time again on these sort of pitches. You can't say the wicket was difficult."
The one consolation so far this tournament for Pakistan has been their performances in the field, with aggressive bowling backed up by keen fielding.
Pakistan's attack nearly bowled the team to an unlikely victory over the West Indies and they again did well to hold South Africa to 234 for nine when the Proteas, who had four batsmen run out, were eyeing a much larger total.
"I think the positive is our bowling. They really, really are bowling very well," said Misbah. "Our fielding is really improving. That is the biggest positive.
"But as a batting unit, I think you can say it's totally lost," he added.
COMMENTS (24)
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@ ;-)chief..... oh come on!! u really disappoint me by asking such a question....don't u think these 2 are the best ;)
Try to beat raising India! If Pakistan Team can do that; it would be like winning the trophy! It is not bad to set difficult objectives to excel!
My heart goes out to him! He performs and still has to face all the criticism and questions on the team's and board's behalf. We love you Misbah, it's unfair to you.
We always thought that induction of fast & furious 'bowlers' can make Pakistan win big matches. So we went on to select them on all Pakistan basis by giving rich prizes. We ended up with different varieties like "LAMBOO" "CHOTO" specialising left hand medium fast with some swing bowling. The spinner we had is a "BUDHA" who at times behaves like a "doosra' non-bowler person. Our biggest problem is to discover 'batsmen'. The reasons we cannot find good batsmen is that our cricket played in the 'gallis'. Pakistan might produce bowlers with some standard but not batsmen as 'galli' cricket only breeds adventurous hitting batsmen. So with the current state of cricket in Pakistan, we should not hope to produce good batsmen in the near future. Enjoying loosing matches as we might head for a wild card entry in the next Champions Trophy.
@S.F.Ali: Are you the family or friend.....???
The results have been extremely disappointing considering that that both matches were winnable. I think one of the issues is that Pakistan continues to persist with players that have not been performing for a long time now. They need to bring in guys that have been performing at the domestic level. And they are clearly missing an all rounder.
Ali Khan
Other then misbah, azhar ali and asad shafique, all are occasional batsmen.
@FawwadRehan: I guess you are mistaken by their performance in the BPL
Imran Farhat = next Lara Shoaib Malik = next Tendulkar
@ waseem sarwar: The aggression I am talking about is the one which we have also witnessed from time-to-time in Hafeez, Kamran, Shoaib Malik etc..No one can forget that these guys have played some vital knocks in the past, and thats why Misbah has chosen them. But rather than benefiting from their natural game, he has made them play his style of cricket, and this is where these players are not good at all. In my opinion, they dont deserve a place in the team, but if Misbah thinks otherwise, then he should find a way to get benefit from them. The only way is to let them be free, let them play their natural game.
Brains are required for watching, listening and learning from other successful players/teams. Alas !!!
If we believe that Asad, Azhar, Umar Akmal and Umar Amin are the future of Pakistan batting, then we will need to continue to invest in them, whatever the results.
They have been bought up on featherbed wickets and for them to adjust to bouncy and seaming wickets is very tough. Let the board help them by getting contracts in English county cricket or Australian/south african domestic cricket. A season or two there will only help them in the long run.
I would say that SELECTION of players was not up to the merit. politics has been destroying our players and our game. we are no more exist in the world of cricket.
@FawadRehan: With your due respect sir, what kind of flair and aggression can Imran Farhat or Shoaib Malik display?
A perfect example of how a defensive leader can turn a naturally aggressive team into an bunch of individuals completely out-of-thoughts. He has brainwashed young minds of Pakistan Cricket with his over-defensive approach. He has made every batsmen think so much about their shots, that now their strenghts had been turned into their weaknesses. Lessons could be learned from Ganguly, who turned a defensive unit into one of the most aggressive teams in world cricket today.Misbah is doing biggest disservice to Cricket Pakistan.The flair and aggression we loved in Pakistan Cricket is disappearing quickly.
Apart from Misbah we don't seem to have any other international class batsmen in the team. While it is very easy to blame Misbah for the team selection, with the kind of politics and egos that habitually predominate in the PCB it is unlikely he ever had much of say in the selection. Getting rid of the deadwood will not be easy considering the ossified mentality that normally prevails in the PCB where personalities have always matttered more than merit
A perfect example of how a defensive leader can turn a naturally aggressive team into an bunch of individuals completely out-of-thoughts. He has brainwashed young minds of Pakistan Cricket with his over-defensive approach. He has made every batsmen think so much about their shots, that now their strenghts had been turned into their weaknesses. Misbah is doing biggest disservice to Cricket Pakistan.The flair and aggression we loved in Pakistan Cricket is disappearing quickly.
Misbah is the best player Pakistan has today, however, our over-emotional nation wouldn't understand it. Hafeez, Farhat, Kamran, Shoaib and Asad perform occasionally which is the problem
we keep wrong hope from this team
Despite Misbah being the only player scoring, I rest blame on him. When you see the players it seems they have been told to be very very careful. As a leader your job is to get best out of your team. It seems there was no game plan other than few cliche "play naturally".
As a leader he should make his team play without fearing of losing. He himself could not do that how can he ask his batsmen do that. No doubt individual are responsible but their performance is more of a reflection of poor leadership than skill itself.
As far as his own scoring is concerned, he find himself with plenty of balls and time because openers are there for only couple of overs.
POOR LEADERSHIP
Misbah Speaking aggressive first time after scoring best runs among Pak team :p.. lol
Dont put the blame on others, you have to make decisions as a captain, if the selectors doesn't listen to you.. better to Leave the captaincy in protest, if you still dont want to leave it, this means you, yourself don't want to take your responsibility.
Our current generation of cricketers doesn't posses any kind of the batting class; Its as simple as that. Fahrat, Malik and even Kami are spend forces. We are really missing some X-factor in batting department and our batters don't rotate the strike so no hope from them. Why can't they go on crease and try to express themselves.
come back, we are waiting for you! we want to give you a grand welcome... !