Misbah-ul-Haq was not able to replicate his success in the Tests in the UAE in the limited-overs games © Getty Images

Sometimes it is hard to make sense of defeat. On the brink of rescuing some dignity from the limited-overs half of England’s tour, Pakistan threw away any hope of redemption. England bowled and fielded with great heart to underline their determination to remain the pre-eminent side in T20 cricket. But that is no solace for Pakistan fans who are understandably convinced that their team had done enough to win in Abu Dhabi.

A perplexing outcome was made more painful by the familiar sight of Misbah-ul-Haq fluffing another run chase. He wasn’t the only culpable player although he was the most visible. Misbah has worked wonders with Pakistan cricket, particularly in the Test arena. He has brought stability to a capsizing vessel. He has been lauded for a whitewash of England in the Test series but he now faces a battle to save his captaincy in one-day cricket.

Misbah has been upset by criticism of his leadership, questioning the media’s agenda against him. Misbah’s cautious methods have certainly polarised opinion, although that legitimate debate has barely hindered the deserved acclaim that he has received for his record in Test cricket. But it is in limited-overs cricket that Misbah often strikes the wrong chord, out of tune with the match situation, a virtuoso playing to the wrong beat.

Some sections of the media might have an agenda against Misbah but that is a captain’s lot. Unfortunately, the evidence of these one-day performances hasn’t left Misbah with much sympathy for his case, especially once he linked his defence with support for Shoaib Malik. Pakistan has a strong tradition in limited-overs cricket; the fans know what to expect and are not easily deceived. Indeed, much of Pakistan’s recovery in one-day cricket, culminating in the World Cup semi-final in Mohali, was during Shahid Afridi’s captaincy.

Leadership is important in cricket, and cricket’s different formats require different leadership styles. As such, the Pakistan Cricket Board does face a genuine dilemma. Misbah is clearly the right captain for Pakistan’s Test team but he doesn’t seem capable of adapting to cricket’s shorter formats. If the PCB is in any doubt about the captain or any of its players it should ask itself what Australia would do? It might be harsh on Misbah, and everything he has achieved, but the long-term development of the team must come first.

Is this the limit of Misbah’s and Pakistan's miracle?

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Misbah ul Haq read correctly that Pakistan were in a selection muddle; Shoaib Malik wasn’t the answer. © Getty Images

Pakistan’s splendid over-achievement in the Test series preceded lifeless surrender in the one-day sequel. In the equation of whitewashes, Tests carry more gloss but Pakistan’s crash back to earth is a reminder that the recent dominance of Misbah-ul-Haq’s team in the UAE will be a mirage unless deep foundations are laid by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Good teams fail intermittently but Pakistan were consistently woeful in this one-day series, a shockingly poor performance considering form in an environment that suits them. Pakistan failed to muster even one decent effort. The emptiness that England’s supporters experienced only a week or ago was transferred to Pakistan’s.

The most dismal moment was the selection for the final match. Misbah and Mohsin Khan opted for a lone fast bowler, one who had been kicking his heels most of the tour, to go with the potential of five spinners. One among the spin quintet was Shoaib Malik, a shadow of his former self since he was forced to modify his action. The poverty of logic in Pakistan’s camp was confirmed by a decision not to select budding allrounder Hammad Azam or a second fast bowler. Even dropping Imran Farhat, scourge of supporters, offered little solace.

The series started badly and never recovered. The first alarm bell was Misbah’s decision to use his influence over the selection of Malik, a captain’s autocracy that invariably leads to unhappiness except for when it was once exercised by Imran Khan. To his credit, Misbah read correctly that Pakistan were in a selection muddle; the selected squad was inadequate and needed bolstering. Malik wasn’t the answer.

In defeat, the focus inevitably fixes on the captain, and Misbah did little else to help his cause. His voice and body language after losing the toss in the first two matches were of a man defeated by circumstance. Pakistan’s generally inhibited and defensive approach to the series bore his hallmark; a winning strategy for the Test arena isn’t usually appropriate for limited-overs cricket. It was a surprise to see a Pakistan team apply such little pressure on the opposition with bat or ball.

Misbah’s tactics have brought success in this format, although he has been rescued too frequently by the individual performances of Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal. Afridi and Hafeez were below par in this series. Their failure exposed Pakistan’s strategy to the extent that there didn’t seem to be much of one. Personnel were shifted with little purpose and the management team were slow to react to events and form.

Pakistan seemed little bothered to perform let alone win, a mindset that can prevail when a one-day series follows Tests. But that is no excuse. A defeat would have been acceptable had it helped the future development of this Pakistan team. That was not the case here. Pakistan need to plan with the 2015 World Cup in mind, decide who of the current group will remain a core player in three years, and nurture younger players to fill the obvious gaps in this team.

That process might lead to thoughts of a different captain, even though Misbah should certainly remain at the helm of the Test team, but it does require urgent attention to other areas. Azhar Ali might be the answer to the one-day opening slot but that leaves holes in the middle order alongside the emerging talent of Asad Shafiq and the frustrating talent of Umar Akmal. Hammad Azam needs to be tested in Abdul Razzaq’s old role of batting allrounder, and the management team must decide who partners Umar Gul with new and old ball out of Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz. This leaves the wicket-keeping slot where a trilogy of Akmals has failed to convince for differing reasons.

One failure should not overshadow the many unexpected successes of the past 18 months, but it serves an important purpose since the flaws in the current squad and tactics can no longer be ignored. The PCB must take a longer view and build a new team for the 2015 World Cup, and the new regime’s response to this series will help us measure the extent of its capabilities and ambitions.

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Shoaib Malik was drafted into the squad despite not having done anything of note recently © Getty Images

A whitewash means nothing when the next match begins, and Pakistan proved it in the first one-day international of their series against England. From the moment Misbah-ul-Haq lost the toss, and his body language betrayed his disappointment, Pakistan were a beaten team. A successful climb to the summit of international cricket requires all challenges to be treated with equal ambivalence and resolution. Still, one defeat isn’t enough to deflate the feel-good factor surrounding Pakistan’s progress.

England produced some excellent individual performances in Abu Dhabi, their skipper Alastair Cook's century followed by a perfectly timed two-fingered salute to the selection committee from Steven Finn. Pakistan didn’t have the skill to overcome those outstanding efforts and they fared little better against a more comfortable challenge from Samit Patel. When Pakistan suck they do it with insatiable lust.

Despite all the highs of last year, Pakistan’s mixture isn’t quite a heady cocktail. A dearth of quality openers and allrounders poses the most serious question of Pakistan’s talent pool.

Pakistan have persisted with men of considerable experience but unflattering vital statistics.

Imran Farhat and Shoaib Malik are batsmen — and it is hard to consider Malik anything more in these latter days of his career — with averages below 35 in both Test and one-day cricket, the product of more than a decade of endeavour. Such numbers suggest the players are still struggling to properly establish themselves, fine in a fledgling career but an untimely two-fingered salute to selection logic after so many years of opportunities.

By all accounts, Misbah personally made the call for Malik’s inclusion; Farhat’s relative is acting head of the national selection panel. Pakistan cricket has made a noble effort to extricate itself from the clutches of spot-fixing, what it doesn’t need now is to lose its renewed power because of faulty connections. Both Malik and Farhat, at various times in their careers, have carried the hopes of supporters but those days are long gone. All they carry now is the stench of a decrepit system; they have been damned in the court of public opinion.

Farhat only occasionally produces a useful innings, and the last time Malik scored anything of note it was the love of Sania Mirza. Malik and Farhat might do well in the remaining matches of the series but any short-term success only delays the development of this Pakistan cricket team. Their pasts tell us that a correcting failure wouldn’t be too far away, whereas the future belongs to others. From this squad, Azhar Ali would benefit most from the rigours of one-day cricket and Hammad Azam is a better investment than Malik. Abdur Rehman is another tempting option.

Pakistan retain every chance of winning this one-day series against England, whether or not they change the team, but selection has an important role in developing young cricketers, and the presence of Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat in the starting XI is suffocating that development.

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Younis Khan delivered a lesson in the lost art of playing spin bowling © Associated Press

Pakistan cricket lived a dream beyond its wildest imagination in the stadiums of Arabia. Misbah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan worked a miracle to inflict a whitewash on the world’s top side, only the fifth occasion that a Pakistan team has achieved that landmark. England were expected to be formidable opponents, likely to expose Pakistan’s progress as superficial. England improved with the series but not enough to challenge Pakistan’s dominance. The rapid progress that Pakistan have made in the last 12 months was sealed with an English kiss.

Determination and tenacity are trademarks of this new Pakistan, although there is no shortage of skill in the spin attack, the best in Asia, or the pace of Umar Gul, a threat with new ball and old. In Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq, Pakistan have young batsmen of sound temperament, a trait often lacking in emerging Pakistani talent. At the helm, Misbah, the mild-mannered miser of Mianwali, has galvanised his troops in a fashion unseen since the days of Imran Khan. Mohsin Khan, a flashing blade in Imran’s team, has been just as sharp in his astute handling of Pakistan’s progress.

In a series dominated by Pakistan’s spin bowlers and the DRS, batsmen have been befuddled, embarrassed, even shell shocked. This mysterious art of spin has left some of the world’s best players tortured wrecks; a mental monster devoured confidence and frazzled nerves. Indeed, both sides struggled at the crease; the batsman’s series we expected was a bowler’s paradise. In these unexpected circumstances, Younis Khan’s innings in the final Test might just be the performance of the contest.

Younis is a happy cricketer, a smile super-glued to his Pathan features. He treats success and failure with equal levity, as demonstrated by a jovial acceptance of his status as former captain. Beneath that pleasant exterior is a fearless man of dignity and deep principles. Fate has been unkind to Younis in his personal life; deaths and tribulations have visited regularly, offering perspective to any trifling punishments and banishments meted out by his erratic employer, the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Younis has been an unassuming warrior, overshadowed by Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf, a third man in Pakistan’s great middle order of the last decade. Perhaps he struggled to create a career-defining moment despite a mighty record and a Twenty20 World Cup win to his credit? His batting style lacks the stubborn clout of Inzamam or the fluent grace of Yousuf. His love-hate relationship with the Pakistan captaincy alienated supporters, when Bob Woolmer groomed him to lead. But dignified patience is finally earning Younis the rewards his class deserves.

Much of the series was a disappointing one considering Younis’s recent form, although failure would have been lost amid the wasteland of poor batting that both sides inhabited. Younis, however, rose above his peers, delivering a lesson in the lost art of playing spin bowling. His feet hurried like those of a tightrope walker balancing without nerve down every line the England bowlers chose to bowl, bat twirling in front of pad. He read turn from the bowler’s hand and watched it fizz from the pitch. He danced down the wicket, he swept and manoeuvred, but above all else he dominated.

It was the innings of the series and Azhar was swept along beside him, urged to produce a career-defining knock of his own, learning from the master, imitating, supporting, and growing in stature. In a decade’s time, when Azhar reflects on his career, he will remember this partnership with Younis as the moment that an earnest youth won his international spurs. For the genius of Younis's innings wasn’t simply in its brilliant execution, it was also in the way that he inspired a Man-of-the-Match performance from Azhar, demoralised England’s bowlers and reminded their batsmen that mastering high-class spin is an art that is currently beyond them.

A whitewash covers blemishes, and this Pakistan team is a few coats from perfection. Dominating in home conditions is a world away from global success. A vigilant cricket board will have observed that Pakistan didn’t convince at the top of the order and struggled to find a gear change until Younis broke free. The best international teams possess an accomplished wicketkeeper batsman and a bowling allrounder. Adnan Akmal didn’t do enough to win a long-term place and the second fast bowler was a passenger in each Test.

For these reasons, Misbah’s Pakistan team isn’t the strongest the country has produced but it might just be the team that makes the most of its attributes; a whole greater than the sum of its parts, an example of the value of unity when a nation yearns to be one. These are critical days in the history of Pakistan, times of damaging uncertainty and grave insecurity, with politicians, soldiers and lawmen playing with people’s lives, a persecuted population looking for a way out. Out of this storm, Pakistan’s cricketers have done what politicians, soldiers and lawmen have failed to do: they have united a nation and shown that adversity is no barrier to the hopes and dreams of their embattled countrymen.

A whitewash against England is satisfying enough but Pakistan’s success in cricket is a clarion call to a nation, a faithful testament to unity and discipline.

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