Misbah-ul-Haq is the most suitable person to lead Pakistan national cricket team in the World Cup 2015. In my view, this is why PCB Chairman Najam Sethi has announced that Misbah would remain the captain till the cricket world’s most prestigious tournament next year.
According to the rules, the PCB chairman selects the selectors and the captains of the team, while the selectors select the teams, Sethi said. "Whatever be the personal view of the selectors regarding who should be the captain, I stand by my decision to retain Misbah-ul-Haq as captain until the World Cup," he said.
Pakistan are set to play 13 ODIs in the next nine months before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in February and March next year.
Keeping in mind the inconsistent performances of the other players, Misbah is the best choice at this time. These days he is the only dependable batsman in Pakistan middle order and has been a pillar of strength in the shaky batting line-up.
Pakistan’s unpredictable top order has made his job difficult. In many matches he has come in to bat very early, with the innings needing consolidation after the loss of early wickets due to which his strike rate goes down.
In last 20 innings, he came in with Pakistan two down before reaching the 50-run mark. Since the beginning of 2011, Pakistan’s top three have collectively averaged 31.42 runs per wicket.
Many critics are in favour of star all-rounder Shahid Afridi, 34, who led Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup in India.
A few others want Mohammad Hafeez, 33, to be given the responsibility but he himself stepped down after Pakistan’s disastrous World Twenty20 in Bangladesh in April as the team failed to reach the semi-finals, for the first time in five editions of the tournament.
Misbah is not worried about his future but has stressed that several talented young players are capable of taking over from him and should be groomed for the captaincy.
In his opinion, Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal who are leading their sides in domestic circuit could be his successor. "I think everybody knows that there is not much time left in my career, so my priority is to play for Pakistan. I just want to play more and more international cricket because I know that I haven’t much time left in cricket. But whatever comes, I just want to play. I just want to enjoy it and play well for Pakistan," said Misbah at Edgbaston during the Champions Trophy last year.
Misbah, 40, was named full-time captain of the ODI team in 2011. He has a very impressive record in his 12-year career: he has played 146 One-day Internationals and scored 4,527 runs at a remarkable average of 44.38, hitting 37 fifties.
As skipper, he has won 39 matches, scored 2,408 at an average of 47.21. Under his captaincy, Pakistan lost 29.
In the 32 games over the past 12 months -- of which Pakistan won 16 -- he averages 52.00.
The victory ratio of Misbah, who has led the team in 22 Test matches with ten wins, five losses and seven draws, is even better than Imran Khan’s, even though Khan is rated among the world’s best captains.
Age should not be a barrier as Imran captained Pakistan when he was 40. Imran led Pakistan in 48 Test matches with 14 wins, eight losses and 26 draws. Wasim Akram led the team in 25 Test matches, with 12 wins, eight losses and five draws. Younis Khan captained Pakistan in 17 Tests with ten wins, seven losses and no draw. Javed Miandad led the team in 34 Tests with 14 wins, six losses and 14 draws.
Misbah is the oldest Test and ODI captain in Pakistan cricket history, having led the Test side at the age of 39 years 98 days. He surpassed legendry Imran Khan’s record who led Pakistan Test team at the age of 39 year 43 days in January 1992 against Sri Lanka. Zaheer Abbas captained Pakistan at the age of 37 years and 139 days.
Misbah deserves to be treated with honour and respect. He took over when the team had lost 10 out of its last 15 Tests.