It is at once indicative of theshort sightedness, or maybewe can say the personal preferencesof some admittedlyrenowned past cricketers thatthey are attempting to make Misbahul-Haq the fall guy. No one is comingforward to admit that somewrong choices and decisions overthe years have led to this stage. I believethat there is a lack of rationalanalysis and more of playing to thegallery.
As the Pakistan side and country’simage falls to a depth where aforeign player laughs in a way thatwe used to do when we accidentlysaw someone naked, the past blundersand selection based on likes,preferences and pressure till at leastsuch time as Zaka Ashraf was chairman,have today fully exposed thosewho did this.
Ironically the selectors have traditionallybeen seen as the leastempowered or influential no matterwhat the past PCB chairmen haveclaimed. There have been enoughinstances over the past few years toprove that it has been nepotism,arrogance and outside interferencethat have affected our selection.
Otherwise no sane men couldpersist with proven failures in temperamentand technique, and whomake no attempt to hide their tentativenessand incompetence againstgenuinely good bowling.
Najam Sethi today must takecontrol to save the Pakistan cricketship from sinking. Misbah was forwhole of the last three weeks pointedto as the core of all evils, allwhile miserable failures such asHafeez, Afridi and even Malik arebeing touted for leadership. Thepressure on PCB management as towhom to protect and whom to makescapegoat is tremendous as thepublic seeks answers.I would like to give a comparisonof Misbah with someone who isregarded as one of the greatestleaders, fighters and finishers of achase, Steve Waugh of Australia.Yes, I know you will jump out ofyour chair to see a comparison withthe great Steve, but that is exactlywhere you see how quick we are tobe influenced by commentators andmedia on how superior one is overthe other. In actuality, men likeWaugh are in the same positiondoing exactly the same job at thesame level of competence. Just thatthey have greater assets with them.Yes, Steve Waugh was a moreaggressive captain, but I don’tremember him beating England 3-0. As Misbah said recently in a TVinterview he can’t take out a rocketlauncher on the field to show hisaggression.
People must realize that aggressionis in built, and the wise seetheir weaknesses not just their strengths. To be a good general,you need dependable majors andsergeants in the front line.To cut to the chase let’s seesome figures that I have limited tothe context of the current chargesagainst him: (There is another comparisonwhich I’ll point out afteryou see Table 1).
Misbah displays almost the samestrike rate and a far better average.Also, notice the matches andinnings played by each and then seethe number of fifties and sixes.Notice that Waugh has a centuryevery 96 innings and that only runningout of partners or completionof overs has robbed Misbah of atleast one hundred, if not more.
Now let’s see how each performedwhen batting second to finishthe match unbeaten when chasing atarget to win the match (Table-2).
So how did each perform wheneach was captain of the side and finishedthe match unbeaten whenchasing a target to win the match(Table-3).
In both the above tables, see thestrike rate please and judge fromboundaries and sixes hit as to whowas more aggressive.
Now let’s see how each performedwhen each was not captainof the side and finished the matchunbeaten when chasing a target towin the match. (Table-4).
Again, see the fact that Misbahhas more runs in far fewer innings,a higher strike rate. Last 2 columnsmake interesting reading too.Misbah has maintained, if notimproved on these figures in eachcase, when playing againstAustralia, India, South Africa, WestIndies and Sri Lanka. So those whofeel these figures are bloated byperformances against lowerrankedteams should be satisfied on thiscount too. Now to the point Ipromised earlier. Steve achievedthese figures when he had MarkWaugh, Adam Gilchrist and RickyPonting, to set up a platform ofruns before he came to bat. Compare these three with the likesof Hafeez, Jamshed, Malik, Umarand Kamran Akmal.
Partnering Waugh would be hardhitters who normally got it right,such as Tom Moody and ShaneWarne. After Misbah come Tanvir,Wahab, Irfan, Ajmal, Junaid.
What people need to be told isthat once Hayden and Gilchristretired then even with Hussey,Clarke, Watson, Ricky Ponting waseasily overrun in the 2011 worldcup and lost two Ashes series in arow, one of them at home to a determinedbut not so great Englandside.
Take Misbah’s figures and comparethem to England’s currentODI captain Alastair Cook and formercaptain Paul Collingwoodunder whom England won theWorld Twenty20 title in 2010, withtheir respective assets in battingand bowling, and you would seejust how tall Misbah stands withthem.
Clearly his critics have no timeto come up with the above comparisonto prove just how Misbahhas accomplished the laborioustask given to him after the PCB inthe past slept over civil war in thedressing room, spot-fixing activitiesand the Waqar-Afridi tiff.Najam Sethi’s recent move to getMisbah included in Twenty 20squad is an indicator that he is givinga shut up call to those who arepulling him down.