Stani Army

Misbah Ul-Haq - A man the whole of Pakistan should get behind and be proud of

In captain Misbah Ul-Haq, Pakistan now have the kind of man they have long needed to lead them. Described by Geoff Lawson as having “the best cricket brain and intellect in Pakistan cricket”, Misbah should have been playing for and leading his country a very long time ago. Yet what is perplexing is the amount of criticism he has received recently.

Misbah’s calmness in personality is something that is seen in his batting. It’s been a signature of Misbah to start off slow before accelerating, which has resulted in getting Pakistan out of some big holes in the past. Of course, the danger is that if he falls early in such an innings, he is then open to criticism for playing too slow.

Much of his recent criticism stems from such an innings in the World Cup Semi-Final against India where he was not able to go on and take Pakistan to victory. To criticise him so much for one unsuccessful innings is absurd, and indirectly absolves those batsmen who failed not only in that game but throughout the tournament, a tournament in which Misbah finished as Pakistan’s leading scorer.

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Misbah Ul-Haq receiving the trophy for leading his side to a domestic title earlier this year. He comes with plenty of domestic captaincy experience

Though it seems that Misbah Ul-Haq has been appointed Pakistan’s Test captain for the two games in the UAE against South Africa more through circumstance than preference, it is the right appointment as far as Stani Army is concerned.

Upset at being dropped for the tour of England, Misbah’s argument was that he had a better average in all forms of the game than most of the touring party, and he had a case. The reasons for Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan’s axing were that the former had retired and the latter had still not apologised for some apparent disciplinary issue. The reason for Misbah’s axing was less obvious even though it was said that the team was looking to go in a new direction with younger players. The recall of the 36 year old Yousuf mid-series put paid to that excuse. Many argued that Misbah was out of form, but then which of the Pakistan batsmen had shown form in the series’ in New Zealand and Australia that had preceded? At least Misbah had been making runs in domestic cricket whilst the others continued to fail on the international stage.

When Younis Khan resigned as captain this time last year, we went through the four possible candidates for the job of captain and Misbah certainly looked as good as the rest if not better in our opinion. He seemed a clean member of the side (from corruption as oppose to drugs!…o.k, and drugs), intelligent and well-spoken. This is something that former Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson has mentioned recently, backing the choice of Misbah as captain. Lawson said that Misbah had the “best cricketing brain” in Pakistan, which is no small compliment

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Calls for clemency as the kid is caught in the corruption

“They got their hooks into him as a baby, at a time when he would have had few confidants in the dressing room, few colleagues he could have gone to for guidance. These men, his team-mates, were meant to look after him; instead they corrupted him, blackened his soul and diminished his talent.

Look at Aamer’s no-ball. It is a joke. It is so exaggerated, so utterly out of keeping with his bowling performance on Friday that it attracted the attention of the television commentators.

Look at Asif’s. Barely over, a small misjudgement, hardly noticeable. To the naked eye, one man looks as if he knows what he is doing, the other hasn’t a clue. If the allegations are correct, both are cheating, but the older man appears better at it; one might even say more practised.” Martin Samuel – Daily Mail

“When I heard on Saturday night that Pakistan were involved in a match-fixing scandal, I immediately thought two things. The first was: I’m not massively surprised. The second was: please, don’t let it be Mohammad Aamer.When it turned out the lad was involved, it felt hugely disappointing. Mohammad Asif has got himself into scrapes before, but Aamer has been a breath of fresh air all summer. He’s revived the dying art of proper fast bowling and his future looked fantastic. Now it’s been tarnished. Lord’s felt a shallow place to be yesterday.” Nasser Hussain – Daily Mail

“the pain of witnessing a young boy of the most beguiling talent and apparently sunny nature making what might just prove to be his last strides in a theatre of sport he had come to command so brilliantly, so quickly.

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There seems to be more to the appointment by the PCB of Waqar Younis as bowling and fielding coach for the Australian series. It seems that plans are afoot to ease current coach Intikhab Alam out and appoint Waqar as full-time general coach. Reports are already circulating that Waqar’s contract is worth more than current coach Intkihab’s. This would seem a bit strange for someone who will just be assisting with the bowling and fielding for a single series. Have the PCB already give him a full contract with a view to making an announcement later on about him taking over?

Waqar Younis, may soon have more to juggle

Added to this is the fact that Pakistan already have a bowling coach in Aaqib Javed, current assistant to Intikhab. There’s been no mention thus far of Aaqib taking a break for the Australian series so what is it that he will be doing if Waqar is going to be bowling coach?

Stani Army were not the biggest supporters of Intikhab’s appointment as it seemed very much an old-school, backward step after the good work done by the late Bob Woolmer and former

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There are some youngsters like Umar Akmal and Mohammad Aamer who burst onto the scene, and then you have the likes of Fawad Alam who show glimpses of their talent, stumble, and then try to get back up. There are many admirers of Fawad who have long since called for him to be a regular in the Pakistan team. It was clear Geoff Lawson liked him as he was always in and around the squad during Lawson’s stint. I for one have questioned in the past where Fawad would fit in and whether he was a better spinner or a better batsmen than what we already had in his position.

The contrasting fortunes of Fawad Alam (top) & Umar Akmal

The recent tribulations of our top/middle order, the dropping of Misbah and the resting of Younis, has given Fawad a chance to stake his claim. His opportunity came in the first Test against New Zealand, coming into bat in the important position of number three. Fawad scored 29 in the first innings and just 5 in the second. The fact that Pakistan lost the first Test by only 35 runs, or to look at it another way, a decent knock by a single batsmen, then the three that failed at the top, Manzoor, Farhat and Fawad, had to have been scrutinized much more closely.

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