worth dissecting too, but on another day), but without
the pressure of having to chase, Pakistan were still pretty abject with the bat. They were bowled out in 19 of their
44 matches batting first under him - their average score
when they did bat 50 overs was 264, and they lost only
a quarter of these matches.In the era of capitalising on
solid starts Pakistan have rarely had starts to capitalise
on. When Misbah batted at four, more than a third of
the time he came in with the score under 40; when he
batted at five, he came in with the score under 50 nearly
a third of the time. In 2013, in ODIs Pakistan had the
second worst opening partnership average among Testplaying nations. In 2014 it improved all the way to sixth
best. The reason Misbah failed, the reason Afridi failed,
the reason Pakistan failed all had the same root. Misbah
had to come in too early, resulting in him having to curb
his natural game; Afridi came in too early to be able to
make best use of his death-overs expertise; Pakistan
ended up being bowled out in nearly half their matches
batting first. Perhaps it's a fleeting change - one that has
previously resulted in false dawns for Pakistan fans at
the hands of Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad - but
it doesn't hurt to have the man with the fifth-highest List
A average ever providing you with the start you have
so often lacked.Shoaib Malik, the new-old lynchpin in
Pakistan's batting order, has played seven innings in his
comeback now - the average score when he has strode
out to bat has been 164 (the only time he came in to
bat with the score under 120 is also Pakistan's only loss
CRICKET
in this run). From the depths of 2013 and 2014, Pakistan have stumbled upon the best opening partnership
average in the world this year - despite the pre-Sarfraz
debacle that was the World Cup. Thus it is correct to
take issue with what Misbah did - perhaps not with his
beliefs, but certainly with his conviction in those beliefs.
He was accused during his time of backing Malik excessively (who played 13 consecutive ODIs from December
2012 to June 2013 - scoring no fifties and picking up two
wickets) and was accused of trying to turn the national
team into his all-conquering SNGPL side. Yet the "resurgence" has been led by Malik and SNGPL players.
And foremost among them has been Azhar Ali - the man
who is Misbah's protégé in popular imagination, the man
for whom he could fight the selection committee, the
man he recommended and pushed for as his successor.
While the likes of Younis, Asad Shafiq and a plethora of
openers were repeatedly given rope over the last four
years, despite their glut of failures, Azhar was given far
fewer chances than seems defensible now. Either Misbah didn't rate him in the shorter format, or didn't have
the pull to force him into the team - neither of which reflect all too well on him. Thus, while it makes sense to
question Misbah the ODI captain, foremost among those
questions ought to be about his exclusion of Azhar.Alas,
that doesn't really fit with the narrative on either side.
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