There are only 2 camps for Misbah. You're either in the "He's the greatest thing to happen to Pakistani cricket since Sarfraz Nawaz discovered Reverse Swing", OR you're in the "He's an elephant who feasts on mouse food, and should probably get on with it". Personally I think he's been great, and exactly the sort of player and Captain Pakistan needed. His big problem was that between 2000-2007, there was no place in the squad for him. He had to sit, whilst Inzamam, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf pilfered bowling attacks around the world. Of late he's come in and he's already gained a lot of respect, from all quarters, in a very short space of time as Pakistan captain. He'll never be an all time Pakistani great, may not even be mentioned as even one of the great batsmen of his era. But his true value will be known by a few who will deem him to be the one who kept Pakistani Test Cricket alive and kicking in its darkest hour.

Misbah is no doubt the best Test batsman and best test captian in Pakistani side currently..He must focus only and only on test cricket nd must retire fron ODI's nd T20's.. Shahid Afridi is the real Hero in Pakistani team as far as ODI's nd T20 are concerned..Today he is one of the most dangerous bowlers of the world cricket and his batting as always is his additional quality. it is destructive for Pakistani team that he was dismissed from Capitancy.If Pakistani team want to rule over cricket world in ODI's and T2o, Afridi must be restored as Captian. nd players like Shoaib Malik nd Razzaq should be included in ODI's nd T20 nd Imran Nazir should be included in T20 side..Waqar should be removed nd Miandad e the Coach nd Aqib or Wasim Akram be the bowling coach..This is the only option left for Pakistan.

Interesting perspective. I agree though, truly a tragedy. He has improved considerably over time and is a fine test player.

Misbah should have been selected 10 years ago,,,,

I agree with some of what you said, but I think his achievements far outweigh his negative moments; at the very least, all of the moments where we have held our head in disappointment should be viewed in the same context - he came in at a point where no one gave us any hope, and almost took us to the end. The fact that sometimes he could not finish the job should not be his fault, but the fault of his teammates who consistently sent him in to do the impossible. He tried his level best, and for that, I thank him dearly.

I agree with the writer. He is a kind of tragic hero who has been denied his fixture in the team inspite of the value he adds to the team.

During the inaugural T20 World Cup, the last over could have definitely gone in favour of Pakistan. In that sense, he reminds me of Lance Klusener, who single-handedly redefined Last overs onslaught but just due to some freakish way, could not take them to Finals.....

Agreed, 632 odd runs in the year, 2 test wins. Avg 90 as captain, at least recognized by the ICC in a small way by nominating him for cricketer of the year and test batsman of the year.

He will always be known as "Miss Baa" that much!!! What a pity!

And don't forget how he got out in the T20 Final. Plus being run out because he had his feet in the air when taking a run to avoid being hit by the ball. No wonder he's been nicknamed 'Misfired ul Haq'.

Misbah is indeed an enigma. He is an ageless wonder, a fellow who doffs a cap to the old-timers and fires a broadside to those that feel only youthful exuberance and iffy temperaments make the best cricketers. In an era of wireless, nano based technology and restlessness to get things done yesterday, Misbah is welcome respite that sometimes age does matter. To suggest that once a player reaches his 30s, his/her value is undermined is simply wrong.
Pakistani cricket has indeed shot itself in the foot on so many occasions of late that its any wonder they can even stand up. No doubting the propensity to produce wonderfully talented players (of all ages) but in Misbah an element of calm has, temporarily at least, pervaded Pakistan cricket. He is the Mike Brierley, the type of personality that Pakistan has craved for since Imran Khan departed. His playing talent to a degree is irrelevant, more his calmness, maturity and ability to remained dignified stands out as his value to team Pakistan

I don't think it's fair to hold Mohali innings over Misbah's head for the rest of his life. The whole team failed to perform. Wickets fell as Misbah watched from non striker's end, and we only blame Misbah for losing the match. Why? For actually staying on the wicket and getting the team as far as he did? What about Hafeez (future captain as some might like to call him), Younis khan, Abdul Razzaq, and Kamran Akmal? All senior players and they didn't deliver.

I find it strange that you feel that your hero is stigmatized. There is no tragedy here, Misbah should be proud of what he has achieved at such a late stage in his career. Many others would have given up long ago, me and you included.

Pakistan fielded and batted poorly on that day in Mohali and lost, end of story. It was a team failure.

Well written article. I totally agree with the writer. Misbah single hand-idly has brought stability to our middle order, reminiscent of Inzi-Yousaf era. As a batsman he is not Bradman (or SRT for that matter) but considering the side/country he has to represent, its a feat in itself to have solid leadership and good onfield performance.

that his own fault it shows he can't handle peassure in big matchs

SO true, but I will never forgive him for loosing semifinales to india. Not that I expected him to win that match single handedly, but the way he did not try to win, the way he blocked every ball when a score of 8 and 9 per over was needed was not understandable. Any one will try to win it with all the risk taken, because at that point of time there was no hope left of others and there wasnt time left to consolidate. I think majority of pakistanies still see some thing unusual in that and do not trust him when really it counts.

I guess Misbah got a permanent place in the side too late considering his age. Even though he is in form, it looks like he has only a couple of years left in his career.

Yes - all well and good but please look at Misbah's performances when he was given a chance initially. Then many many many irresponsible shots throughout his career including the 20/20 WC final - you mentioned Mohali. Please look at the fact before you start batting for Misbah. Had Misbah batted as sensibly as he does these days he would have captained Pakistan for ten years and would have been a legend by now. He is to blame himself and no one else.

Only a REAL PAKISTANI CRICKET FAN will understand that the way Misbah ul haq played against India in that Semi-Final was the way he always plays. While he stuck around others kept on-going. He was the only Batsmen we actually had in the team. He did his part while rarely anybody else did there's.

Well written!!!! Very few Pakistanis would agree this fact that he's a genuine 50-over format player, even at Mohali he was the highest scorer among Paki Batsmen, he played at a strike rate of 74 which was not bad at all in those circumstances. Younis played at 40, Other batsmen didn't make much influence on scorecard except Hafeez (SR:74) & Umar Akmal. They all threw their wickets & had Misbah followed their approach it could be under 200 all-out.

The time Misbah made his 1st appearance in the national team was when there were big names in the team like Inzamam and Ijaz Ahmed etc which actually led his exit from the team. If he kept on playing since that time i am sure he would have been a cricketing giant today. what a loss

Well Written Phrases.....

Misbah is a technically sound player but, his style of cricke is not suitable 4 ODI or T20. He wastes so many deliveries on number of occasions which results against their team.

Very well written. Misbah UL Haq is truely a fine batsman and a rare batsman who actually reads the situation so well. I saw his ODI innings in NZ earlier this year and the way he planned his innings was a throw back to Javed Miandad's days. Misbah is also a very fine fielder. He may not carry glamour and glitz of many so called God's of cricket but he belongs to club of players like J Kallis who come...do their job and actually win matches. I hope Misbad goes on for good 3-5 years as he is an educated, calm and mature man of few words. Rare for a Pakistani captain!

talent misused.

so tragic........so true!

I still blame Misbah for Pakistan's loss in the world cup 2010.
Being as mature as you write then he should have lifted pakistan innings instead of crushing it. High hopes all the time but he does not deliver in both world cups (20-20 and 50 overs).
So as far as I am concerned he is a burden on the Pakistan team.

He is without doubt the most lamest of the talented guys....he has the ability to stay cool in crises but the way he batted against India in the quarter finals in world cup....he literally could have won the game for tham....but till date it skips me Y he started that counter attack so late....so he is cool but need to know when to hit the padle......

Imran lifted the WC at 41. Misbah is fit enough to take Pakistan through the next WC.

Thank you for your article.
It was very fulfilling for me and your writing style engaging.

God Bless Misbah for both Indian matches. 2007 and 2011

Bec he lost so much time early in his career to cement his place in the side for whatever reason, he seems to be that much more determined to prove his worth to his team and himself. As long as he is fit and in form, he can play till 40 at least. Good thing for him so far is that he seems to be very fit, on par with even youngsters in the team.

So true......very well written. I totally agree with the writer. I beleive we need to uncover the basic problems in pakistani cricket system to avaoid more blunders in future.

I agree with the above article and I must add that Mohali Innings is not the only thing that brings hatred for Misbah from all over Pakistan, he never is a suitable ODI player. He has some batting limitations or I must say that he considers himself "too intelligent" for the game.
He may have the coolest head as a captain but as a player, i am afraid, he has no place in ODIs. He will be the one captain who will be forgotten as easily as one can think off and Pakistani people will never miss him because the innings he played in Mohali never made any sense to anybody.
Many players have failed in history before too but none comes close to the likes of Misbah who went in one of the most important match of Pakistan's cricket history and made sure that Pakistan lose the game. Whatever he achieves in his remaining two years of his career. He will never be forgiven.

Its time now for Misbah ul Haq to decide on his future quick. His recent performances in ODI's have just been satisfactory but he has still the potential to lead the test side. The problem with Misbah is that either the T20 WorldCup Final 2007 or the WorldCup 2011 (and both against arch rivals India), Misbah has been the centre of the match and in the end on the losing side overcoming his other great performances causing his unpopularity among the public. I think his age will cause him lack of popularity among the Pakistani fans for him to make an impact on them.

I wish the people who keep on asking for Shahid Afridi as a captain would just look at his performance and his disgraceful on-field antics as a captain. Shahid Afridi deserves a chance to play as a player and be dropped when he does not perform. The prevalent attitude among players and board members that if you serve your time you will get your chance to be the captain of the national team is a holdover from the traditions of the Army. The national captain should be a person who is able to be competitive without being abrasive,someone who has the respect of his colleagues and understands not just the intricacies of the game but the idiosyncrasies and strengths of his team mates. And the Board needs to make the team but especially the captain to understand that they serve as the PR leads of an embattled nation on and off the field. Mr. Afridi has demonstrated his lack of temperament and been saved by his on-field skills multiple times and at best should be allowed to be vice captain.

He is fittest of the Pakistani players at 37. And he has got respect. He must lead Pakistan for another 2 years in tests/ODIs. He should retire from 20-20s.

He as in most cases of Pakistan, is one of the reasons why you can never figure the PCB out. Like the Windies, the board is just so full contradictions from their selections to the reason of dropping of people. Misbah is one of the most effective test batsmen but sadly he has been around at a time when Pakistan cricket has been so much under the securtiny of the public eye. He is a great talent and has the right kind of maturity to lead this troubled test cricketing nation. Misbah, you are a great player, please stay around for a little while longer

Partially disagree and Mr Abrar he has already defeated pakistn single handedly in semi final of the world cup, what you say about that!!! Misbah should retire now and a young captain may be hafeez should take over the captaincy for the next wc immediatly, I don't understand why the people above don't think about future.... He is an average player who has no achievent for pakistn uptill now if i am wrong bring me the facts...

Very true, I agree with the writer.
We need to uncover the problems in pakistan domestic cricket to stop any future victims

i think Lance Klusner & Misbah share d same destiny... gr8 players, started well but couldn't 'Make it Large'...

Misbah has been a tremendous servant of Pakistan. Its best captain since Imran Khan....even the ill fated world cup semi final innings I think shows Misbah as a hero. He stayed and kept his head while all others around him like younis khan and afridi and razzaq the senior players lost it. He adopted a mentality of last man standing, last man last bullet......he was there at the end if either razzaq or afridi had kept their head it could all have been different. As it is the world cup is over and misbah has done tremendously a drawn series with south africa and west iindies that could have been wins, a win in new zealand.....he is doing wonderfully i hope he can stay captain for 2 more years at least

Misbah is different than other pakistani players.he has an incredible cool head and although a bit slow, he's currently the only Pak batsman who can actually play a long innings. I personally believe he can play for 3 more years but I'm sure the Pakistani board won't let him do that. Unless Ijaj butt is removed from the panel, pakistan cricket will never take a step forward. and also, personally i think s.malik and kamran akmal should never come back to the pakistan team.

mohali....it just cant be forgotten

He is truly one of the best test cricketer Pakistan have produced in a decade

Misbah has been a great stabiliser for the Pakistan team. In his presence, the team really plays with a different approach towards the game. Rarely have I seen Pakistan batting self implode in test cricket when Misbah is there, as opposed to when he is not there. Moreover, I feel its pretty weird that Pakistanis blame Misbah for the T20 world cup loss and the 50 over world cup loss, when its been majorly due to Misbah that Pakistan has even entertained the thoughts of chasing down the target. All in all, even if Misbah is not remembered as a great of the game, cricket will definitely remember him with very fond memories.

Misbah has cost Pakistan two world cups. First it was t20 and then odi world cup, so I'd never be his fan nor I'd ever like him. He's the most selfish batsman to ever play for Pakistan. He only cared about his personal stat as long as he stayed at the crease. Two thumbs down to Misbah.

I beleive what ever happened to him in past everybody knows that. Why to talk of age when his fitness and form is at peak. If he keeps delivering as he is now and also keeps the team united with the cool mind and behaviour, I would prefer him over Shahid Afridi who is a gone story as far as batting is concerned. His test record alonwith One Day and 20-20 records of recent past speak of his superiority.

misbah is no doubt the best responsible player at the moment in the pakistan team no doubt he has very bad memories during his carier but one has to see his cometments also he took the 20 20 final so close that every one was sticked towards the match other wise it was the one side affair it is that thrill of game which keeps us attached towards the game wining or losing is another affair when 2 teams are on the feild one has to win and one has to lose but we have to see in which manner one wins and other loses

Bull's eye. This is exactly what Misbah's problem is. He is too reluctant to take any risks even when he is completely settled on the crease. It was unfair to keep such a player out of the squad when players like wajahutllah wasti were being showered with chances. I guess he is too scared of taking risks during his innings when they are inevitable.

I am a Pakistani Cricket Team Fan, and to those who still say that Misbah is responsible for the loss against India in both T-20 WC and 2011 WC, first of all you should realize that he was the one who seeded hopes for the team when all other batsmen had given it away... He could not finish it well, but he atleast tried... If Misbah was not in that team, in both occasions, Pakistan would have lost the match too early... He fights... What could he do when wickets keep on falling on the other end?? You cannot feel the pressure until you go out there on the ground and face the ball, playing for your country... with so many expectations... I hope you understand!!

he is just too slow and old

i agree with the writer to the extent that he is unfortunate. in the first T20 WC he single handedly took pakistan near the line but 1 mistake cost him so dearly that he is still thought to be the one who lost that wc for pakistan and in this ODI WC his role in the team was of accumulator not of the striker. we had 3 strong hitters of the ball in the side umar akmal, shahid afridi and abdul razzaq. it was their job to force the pace. misbah did his part by keeping one end intatct but still he is blamed the most not the strikers who could not do their job. its a pity that we r always blaming the one who is standing till the end to be the culprit and not the one's who got out.

I had been his one of the very few supporter/fan but I was quite upset by his semi final innings where he failed to make adjustments to his normal routine of surviving first and attack latter. Misbah and Younis should say goodbye to ODI and leave the middle order in young and energetic talent of Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal and Azhar Ali.

To all ppl accusing Misbah for the failure in Mohali must realise that if didnt have stayed till the end Pakistan wouldnt have reached even 200! Chk PK previous history of chasing totals especially in big matches, even in the times of g8s like Imran & Miandad thy generally just cant handle pressure!He did the job he's assigned satisfactorily! Its others job to keep produce runs and Misbah to keep on end intact (Well done Misbah) for tht! I reckon the way Kamran,Hafeez n thn asad shafique were playing, had they shown some sense n maturity PK wud've won very easily they juts gifted there wickets away n effectively the match!

Misbah is OK . He is a bit old and won,t be around too long. We should find a younger replacement for him as a Captain very soon . Salman who was elected as Captain in 2010 turned out a very big disaster and disapointed for Pakistan . The real issue is why the likes of Shoaib Malik are selected? Even against Zimbabwe he was a dismal failure . Similarly , Umar Akmal needs to be sacked . He cannot play a match withourt dropping a few easy catches or missing easy stumping chances .

i think misbah ul haq is a excellent captain i like his cricket

i think he is a very good player and cricketer i really like his game he is a good captain is well

afridi should come back. he is the man to lead pakistan. misbah is good player for test. but not suitable for the ODI. team should change. as opener hafeez and imran nazir, 3rd umar akmal, 4th younis khan, 5th shahid afridi, 6th kamran akmal, 7th abdur razzak, 8th sohail tanvir, 9th umar gul, 10th wahab riaz, 11th saeed ajmal. wasim akram or javid miandad should be coach,

People forget - Misbah is his own enemy. He was given numerous chances but he just didn't perform when he had the opportunity. He can be a good batsman but he has been mostly careless throughout his career. You cannot forget his shot sellection in the T20 final and last world cup Semi Final both against India. He could have been a hero but he chose to play reclessly. Please look at his records he was given a series of chances. You cannot blame PCB for Misbah's failures. We have same issues with others like Malik, Farhat, Sami, Alam, Iqbal and many more.

the only problem i have with misbah ul haq is that he is very defensive and that is not the way to lead the pakistani team if u see all the successfull captains of pakistan cricket have always been aggressive people 2ndly however good he performs as a batsman he lacks one key feature and that is to finish a game and considering he comes to out to bat at 4th or 5th even in his own captaincy he should be able to finish games and i hope nobody asks me about examples where he didnt finish games

series against zimbabwe wi irl nzl and sa prove that misbah ul haq is a very good thinking captain and in all that serieses his purformance excellent pcb should give him time as a captain and than i think pakistan found an other imran khan

Misbah has stabilized the Pak cricket team. Inshallah he will lead the team for the next 5 years.

i was big fan of Afridi's captaincy since he was looking really passionate and aggressive cricketer. But with sorry i have to say he is not attacking captain at all to my opinion with following examples in mind..

1 - sending Razzaq down to order
2 - even in t20 he used to send fawwad alam up to the order preferring over umar akmal and razzq and hmself STRANGE
3 - Afridi should open in T20 at least.. see recently he was sent up to order in ebglish county and he performed really well. there is no justification at all by keeping Razzaq, umar akmal and afridi down to order at least in T20...

I think Misbah has done a difficult job at a difficult time for Pakistan. He has brought a measure of stability to Pakistan. He deserves to continue for that, at least at the Test level. I don't know about the ODI's but appointing Afridi again is taking a backward step. He has behaved like a spoiled child, running away when he did'nt like the way things were. Also his batting is no longer a factor, except at maybe the T20 level. He can't be trusted to score more than 10-15 runs now. He can make it as a bowler. It is time for Pakistan to forget Afridi the all-rounder