An Open Letter to Misbahul Haq
There are hardly any Misbah moments especially in do-or-die/high pressure ties.
Misbah the problem is that you appear bereft of ideas at times, the ‘safety first’ approach worked initially but smarter opponents have figured it out eventually. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
Dear Misbah,
I remember your Test debut against New Zealand in 2001, most cricket fans around the country were happy to see an educated, unflappable and seemingly cool-minded batsman with an MBA degree solidifying our middle-order.
After a rather inauspicious start you made a roaring comeback in 2007 and almost won us the World Twenty20 in 2007.
Fast forward to 2010; you took over the reins of captaincy in arguably the toughest time in our cricketing history – post the spot-fixing scandal.
Your safety first approach did wonders initially and we succeeded in keeping South Africa at bay, registered impressive series wins against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, before whitewashing England in arguably our greatest Test victory to date.
This year has been a real tough one for you and the team despite your own batting form.
This year your captaincy has also tapered off and like most mortals trapped in adversity you feel that the world is conspiring against you.
But keep the theories aside please and reflect on the reasons of this ignominious run.
Recently we have allowed teams to recover and post challenging totals after running through their top orders like a knife through butter; similarly the batsmen have failed to exert their presence at the crease and have gone in their shells at the wrong time when the occasion was crying out for some sensible strike rotation and intelligent run accumulation.
Here are a few instances:
• In the Cape Town Test against South Africa, the combined force of Robin Peterson’s counter-attack and a run rate of 2.23 runs in the second innings resulted in Pakistan squandering a golden opportunity of winning a rare away Test against a top class opponent.
• The tied ODI against the West Indies in St. Lucia, where the last pair scored 15 runs in the last over to secure a tie, when your captaincy and field placing was listless as commentator Ian Bishop was tearing out hair from his otherwise bald head.
• The second Test against Zimbabwe in Harare, where Pakistan’s run rate was 2.19 spread over 105 overs. On day three you and Younus Khan scored 29 runs off the first 20 overs, as the lowest ranked Test team was allowed to dominate and eventually eked out a famous win despite your own herculean second innings effort.
• In the first ODI against South Africa of the latest series in the UAE, the Proteas were 129 for eight, when the last two wickets added a match winning 64 runs.
Misbah the problem is that you appear bereft of ideas at times, the ‘safety first’ approach worked initially but smarter opponents have figured it out eventually.
My friend you are dear to cricket fans, most of them sympathise with you but there are hardly any Misbah moments especially in do-or-die/high pressure ties that gave us goosebumps like Javed Miandad’s last ball six, Inzamam-ul-Haq’s Auckland 1992, Karachi 1994, Multan 2003 heroics or the tonic that was Salim Malik’s Kolkata assault of the mid-eighties….. care to change that?
For now remember we are all behind you, lead the team and make your boys fight and you will see the passion resonate through us all over again, and please don’t blame your team for failures, this is not the way leaders operate.
All the Best for the South Africa Tour
Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2013.
I remember your Test debut against New Zealand in 2001, most cricket fans around the country were happy to see an educated, unflappable and seemingly cool-minded batsman with an MBA degree solidifying our middle-order.
After a rather inauspicious start you made a roaring comeback in 2007 and almost won us the World Twenty20 in 2007.
Fast forward to 2010; you took over the reins of captaincy in arguably the toughest time in our cricketing history – post the spot-fixing scandal.
Your safety first approach did wonders initially and we succeeded in keeping South Africa at bay, registered impressive series wins against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, before whitewashing England in arguably our greatest Test victory to date.
This year has been a real tough one for you and the team despite your own batting form.
This year your captaincy has also tapered off and like most mortals trapped in adversity you feel that the world is conspiring against you.
But keep the theories aside please and reflect on the reasons of this ignominious run.
Recently we have allowed teams to recover and post challenging totals after running through their top orders like a knife through butter; similarly the batsmen have failed to exert their presence at the crease and have gone in their shells at the wrong time when the occasion was crying out for some sensible strike rotation and intelligent run accumulation.
Here are a few instances:
• In the Cape Town Test against South Africa, the combined force of Robin Peterson’s counter-attack and a run rate of 2.23 runs in the second innings resulted in Pakistan squandering a golden opportunity of winning a rare away Test against a top class opponent.
• The tied ODI against the West Indies in St. Lucia, where the last pair scored 15 runs in the last over to secure a tie, when your captaincy and field placing was listless as commentator Ian Bishop was tearing out hair from his otherwise bald head.
• The second Test against Zimbabwe in Harare, where Pakistan’s run rate was 2.19 spread over 105 overs. On day three you and Younus Khan scored 29 runs off the first 20 overs, as the lowest ranked Test team was allowed to dominate and eventually eked out a famous win despite your own herculean second innings effort.
• In the first ODI against South Africa of the latest series in the UAE, the Proteas were 129 for eight, when the last two wickets added a match winning 64 runs.
Misbah the problem is that you appear bereft of ideas at times, the ‘safety first’ approach worked initially but smarter opponents have figured it out eventually.
My friend you are dear to cricket fans, most of them sympathise with you but there are hardly any Misbah moments especially in do-or-die/high pressure ties that gave us goosebumps like Javed Miandad’s last ball six, Inzamam-ul-Haq’s Auckland 1992, Karachi 1994, Multan 2003 heroics or the tonic that was Salim Malik’s Kolkata assault of the mid-eighties….. care to change that?
For now remember we are all behind you, lead the team and make your boys fight and you will see the passion resonate through us all over again, and please don’t blame your team for failures, this is not the way leaders operate.
All the Best for the South Africa Tour
Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2013.