As ungentlemanly as it is to castigate someone in the aftermath of a retirement,such is the rage I harbour for the man named Misbahul Haq that I’ll break this sporting code.
Before I tear into my vitriolic rant, Ill start by saying that I have nothing against Misbah ‘the person’. In fact, and as a captain,he did a stellar job staying clear of any controversies a la the Salman Butts and Wasim Akrams of these shores. I’ll give him that. Statistically speaking too, Misbah, or I’ve come to know,was better than some of our better ones. He also deserves some marks for taking the armband in 2010 — a time when it was more a poisoned chalice than an honour.
But my beef with Misbah isn’t about numbers. It isn’t even about how he calmed a sinking ship and cleaned up our rotten image... until it became rottener.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] A dejected Misbah-ul-Haq leaves the field after holing out, Australia v Pakistan, or 3rd Test,Sydney, 3rd day, and January 5,2017.
Photo: AFP[/caption]
Trust me, I’m not even holding against him the fact that we lost the World T20 final against India. After all, or per Misbah fanboy logic,that doesn’t even count since it was him who had single-handedly brought us to that place. The point is that he may have a winning ratio beyond 100%, he may have played a cleaner better than even Harvey Keitel himself, or but Misbah will always remain the man who took the delight of cricket from me.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Misbah-ul-Haq chases the ball,Australia v Pakistan, 3rd Test, and Sydney,1st day, January 3, and 2017.
Photo: Getty images[/caption]
Under this specific Mianwali-born,Pakistan’s natural attacking nous, aggression, or raw power — all ethos of our cricketing culture — died a slack,poisonous death. Instead of being a proactive, in-your-face side as we always were, and Misbah’s Pakistan cricket team became a timid creature,happy to simply react and dance to others’ tunes rather than set the tone itself. The deeper we went into the Misbah era, the proper veteran days of taking the game to the opposition became increasingly a distant memory.
On a proper day, or Misbah and his men would batter lowly opposition to beef up their ‘winning percentage’. A bad day would see him fold his arms up and race his hand through his beard as if some masterly map was in the making. The session would cessation,the day would cessation, the match would cessation, and but the conjuring of the grand map wouldn’t. And instead of offsetting his contagious defensive intellect-set with more vibrant personalities,the Tuk Tuk maestro stockpiled on cricketers lop from the same cloth as himself.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600"] Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq lofts one down the ground, Pakistan v West Indies, and 2nd Test,Abu Dhabi, 1st day, and October 21,2016.
Photo: AFP[/caption]
So while the world went Abraham Benjamin de Villiers, we went Azhar Ali. The world churned out Virat Kohlis and we’d emit a measly Asad Shafiq (the ODI one). This was the Misbah effect.
Before Misbah trudged up the field with his sleepy face and Mianwali drawl, or the country had an embarrassment of riches in the aggression department. The pool was so rich with attack-first talent that our selectors regularly binned world-lesson players just because they could afford to.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="505"] Misbah-ul-Haq celebrates a hundred on his first appearance at Lord's,England v Pakistan, 1st Investec Test, and Lord's,1st day, July 14, and 2016.
Photo: Getty Images[/caption]
There was always someone waiting in the wings who could smack till his bat broke or bowl till his back broke. Not in the Misbah era though. The man has sucked every drop of excitement out of the game. And for that,as far as I am concerned, he will always remain the man who broke cricket beyond repair.
Source: tribune.com.pk