WE WILL MIS-YOU!

KARACHI: It was a heart-warming scene – Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan embracing as their team-mates celebrated a historic series-winning triumph at the Windsor Park in Dominica on Sunday.

It was also a well-deserved farewell to two of the greatest Pakistani cricketers of all-time. And that their swansong came in the shape of Pakistan’s first-ever Test series win on Caribbean soil was priceless.

Surrounded by their family, friends and team-mates both Misbah and Younis basked in the glory. They had played their innings and had played it with dignity.

Misbah later said that he gave Pakistan cricket everything he had.

“Whenever you think back, you think I’ve done this and that, you always have a feeling I could’ve done this a little better,” Misbah told Cricinfo. “I tried all that I could on my part, with whatever authority and responsibility I had, whatever was in my hands, I did what I could. I tried my level best with this team.

“And I think, thank God, we have achieved quite a few things in Test cricket especially. One-days also we achieved some things, stuff that other big sides couldn’t do. With the resources, the situation, the limitations of Pakistan cricket I think that I am, to a great degree, satisfied with whatever we have achieved.”

Misbah said that patience was his key to success.

“No secret [to his endurance],” he said. “Patience is very important. The other thing, for captaincy, is that the most difficult task, you go there and do it yourself. If you do, then automatically players get behind you and start playing their roles.

“I didn’t think of it is as a burden. Neither did I ever think that I would do it for this long, or did I worry about it being taken away from me. You are given a responsibility and you have players and resources around you who help you in fulfilling that.

“You maintain good relations with the players, with the board - with whoever you work with. Giving respect to everyone has helped me in my captaincy and I got respect in return.”

Misbah is of the view that Pakistan will miss the services of Younis.

“It will be difficult,” he said. “The most important thing, in any situation, is to have players who truly believe they can do it, players who believe that whatever the situation, whatever circumstances, they are the ones who can do it for the first time. That is the key thing to bring, that belief in a side - who are the players who will bring that belief into a side?

“That is where Pakistan will miss Younis Khan. In those scenarios, there has to be someone who can stand up, who can play an outstanding fourth innings, or who is out of form and can make a 200. From nowhere to play such an innings, if you have someone like that, you’re always confident as a team.”

Younis, meanwhile, hinted that he is looking forward to things other than cricket.

“People say to me, you should’ve done more captaincy,” he said.

“But I think whatever happens, happens for the best. Had I been captain maybe I wouldn’t have scored all these runs. People think that maybe I carry these regrets, but no. Had I done more, who knows whether I would be where I am today? If I had been captain for so long, maybe I would’ve been too distracted by other duties to score as many runs as I did.”

“All the cricket I’ve played - for club, department, association, county, in Australia, wherever - when I’m gone if you ask any of them, they won’t be able to say that Younis Khan left something in the tank. I gave 200% everywhere I played.

“Two-three years ago, I was about to retire but I got the motivation to try and get to 10,000 runs. As a captain, player, junior, senior, I put it all out there, whatever I had. Whatever I could, with bat, ball, in the field. No regrets either. We won a world title, we beat Australia, leveled a series in England. We performed, I performed so there’s nothing left that I really wanted to do.

“Believe me - I think, in all, I’ve given 27-28 years of my life to cricket. So I have nothing in my mind about any future plans to get back into cricket. I don’t know if I’ll have any energy left after I leave to give to cricket.”