If Pakistan cricket really wants to rise, the first thing we need to do is to choose a qualified coach.
Leave Mohammed Abbas
Before the start of the first Test match against Australia this week, it seemed absurd that Mohammad Abbas would not be included in the squad, and I didn’t expect Misbah to take such a decision. Misbah has made some terrible calls in the past, but I don’t think he would be serious about dismissing Pakistan’s fast bowlers, especially in the game. Speed is an area we have struggled with recently. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Misbah dropped Abbas in favor of Imran Khan, a batsman who had not played Test cricket in the last three years. The last time he played was in Australia, which is expensive and seems to be harmless. His speed was low and he just didn’t look threatening. The captain at that time was Misbah and so, three years later, Misbah brought him back for another tour in Australia. Only a fool would expect a different outcome this time.
Selection of Mohammed Irfan in T20 squad
Perhaps one of Misbah’s most controversial decisions for the Australian tour was the inclusion of Mohammed Irfan in Pakistan’s T20 squad for the Pakistan-Australia T20 series. Irfan was excluded from the Pakistan team under the management of Mickey Arthur due to poor fitness, poor fielding and inability to bat. Misbah seems to have forgiven all the mistakes, and his decision proved to be costly because Irfan was expensive in the games he played. At the age of 37, he has absolutely no future at the top level of international cricket. We should have given a chance to the young players, which Misbah finally did, but by then it was too late and the series was at an unwinnable stage.
Drop Umar Akmal from Test and ODI cricket
Misbah Umar Akmal grabbed a Test career. While Akmal was playing Test cricket, he was Pakistan’s leading scorer. Akmal scored 1003 runs at an average of 35, not out at 21. These runs were not scored on the flat tracks of the United Arab Emirates (UAE); he scored them in New Zealand, Australia and England, showcasing his raw talent. Akmal played a large number of one innings in the UAE, while others had the luxury of playing on those flat tracks, increasing their average. In the last full series that Akmal played, he averaged 41 on difficult wickets in West Indies. His last game came against Zimbabwe, where he left due to a sudden dismissal. However, Misbah kept Akmal out of the team when he was captain, and it has now been eight years since Akmal played a test match, despite averaging close to 45 in cricket. first class.
Not only did Misbah ruin Akmal’s Test career, he also played a hand in ruining his ODI career. In 2013, Akmal was our highest-ranked batsman at the ODI level, averaging 38 at a strike rate of 85. He scored two 50s in his last four matches of the ODI, but he was dropped for the 2013 Champions Trophy without explanation. . We are a struggling team in the batting department, but we dropped our best batsman at that time. Not only that, but Akmal had to be knocked down in the order and forced to play the role of a ‘slogger.’ Although he performed well at the number six position, where Akmal was higher than his contemporaries such as David Miller, Angelo Matthews and Suresh Raina, Akmal was not allowed to progress through the ranks. Also, Umar was forced to play as a keeper in the 2015 World Cup despite not being a regular keeper, which proved to be costly as Akmal dropped the Virat Kohli catch.
Asad Shafiq selected in ODI squad
What’s even more annoying is that Misbah not only hurt Akmal’s ODI career but he chose to replace him with some unpopular players. Asad Shafiq is a Test batsman, but one look at his game and you will know that he is not cut out for the ODI team. Despite this, Misbah continued to replace Shafiq in the ODI team, a decision that backfired, but Shafiq managed to play 30 ODIs under Misbah. He got an average of 19 at a rate of 66, which shows how bad his participation in the team is.
The empty Sohaib Maqsood
Sohaib Maqsood made his debut in 2013 against a strong South African attack, batting at number three, and hit an impressive 50. Another 50 in the next over showed the joy of the Pakistani cricketers as the consensus grew and we finally got our number three. , and someone who can play the modern game. But for some unknown reason, in the next match Maqsood was reduced to number 4, and since then Maqsood has not dropped to number three in the ODI format. In another dramatic twist, he was reduced to number seven a few games later. This is classic Misbah – find a batsman who has a lot of batting, and a batsman who can hit the boundaries, and eventually push him down the order. However, Maqsood made a blind knock at number seven, hitting a match-winning 89 before he made it. However, just two defeats later, Misbah Maqsood was excluded from the ODI squad, and Shafiq, who had already been confirmed as an ODI failure, was selected. At the time Maqsood was dropped from the team, Maqsood’s ODI stats were: 35 average, strike rate of 83, while Shafiq’s stats were: 26 average , each rate is 69. I rest my case.
Unable to choose Haris Sohail and Babar Azam
Ironically, while the Pakistan team struggled with batting talent during Misbah’s captaincy, we had two batsmen in Pakistan who tore up the national tour: Haris Sohail and Babar Azam. . I still argue that one of the worst things in Pakistan cricket is Sohail who was first in Test cricket in 2017. He should have been selected years earlier. In the 2010-2011 first-class season, Haris averaged 46, in the 2011-2012 season he averaged 49, and in the 2012-2013 season he averaged 134, but despite these performances he was not given his cap test until 2017.
Similarly, in 2011-2012 list-A season Babar Azam averaged 66, in 2012-2013 season he averaged 55 and in 2014 season he averaged 63. Despite this, he made his debut when Misbah has retired. Until now, Azam and Sohail were Pakistan’s two best batsmen, but for years Misbah chose to leave both of them out of his team.
While Sohail made his debut under Misbah in ODI cricket, it was only in 2013 before the decline was accelerated when Misbah hit the mark. seven. Haris was sure to fail in this position and he was kicked out of the team for the next 16 months, until he was re-elected because Mohammed Hafeez failed his bowling test. And guess what? Sohail scored 85 goals in the match against New Zealand and won the Man of the Match award. Similarly, under Misbah’s captaincy in the first season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Azam managed to play two innings in the entire tournament before being dropped inconclusively for the group. remainder of the cycle.
ICC Champions Trophy 2013 and ICC World Cup 2015
Misbah was the captain of the team for both these tournaments and he failed to make it both times despite the fact that his teams were built under his tenure. In the 2013 Champions Cup we lost all our matches and were relegated from the group stage. In the 2015 World Cup Misbah made so many mistakes that the whole situation was almost funny. Misbah continued to use Younis Khan, although he averaged 28 at a cost of 79. Despite this, he was selected for the World Cup, where he failed, and eventually the Pakistan team crashed out of the tournament.
Similarly, during the same World Cup tournament, in another controversial decision, Yasir Shah was selected for the tournament. Shah at that time only played one ODI, which was four years ago. His inexperience showed when he went for 7.50 runs in one. Misbah also chose to play Shah against India, a team known for its ability to test runs. Apart from that, Misbah played in a tour against India in Australia, when Shahid Afridi was in his place.
Conclusion
Later, it was revealed that Misbah could not handle the dual role of head coach and director-general. Some of the blame for this has to be shouldered by the likes of Wasim Akram who was part of the committee that selected Misbah for the dual role. It is very sad that people like that will step up and make the call but will back down if their results don’t bear fruit. It is clear that Misbah has been keeping the Pakistani cricket team in check ever since he retired from the ODI format, just two years later, Pakistan won the Champions Trophy, courtesy of players who did not chosen by Misbah during his tenure.
It should not be forgotten that Misbah holds the record of most consecutive matches captained by a Pakistani in the ODI format. It also cannot be forgotten that when Misbah retired, he left Pakistan at number nine in the ODI rankings, and judging by the way he started his coaching career, it seems that he is on a mission to take us back down to the bottom. . The above mentioned are some of the mistakes that Misbah made before the matches. This list does not include the wrong statements made on the field, which were many. One only needs to see Misbah’When he became the captain of the team he realized that he was not qualified to be the head coach and the selectors. His performance in the second round only further demonstrates this. In the end, if Pakistan cricket really wants to continue its upward trajectory, the first thing we need to do is to choose a qualified coach. Clearly, that person is not Misbah.
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