On Team Misbah

He was called calm. A euphemism for boring. He was called dependable. A euphemism for boring. He was called methodical. A euphemism for, yes you guessed it, boring. The quintessential Pakistani cricketing fan, whose cricket (ir)rationality relies more on pathos rather than logos, does not take to liking Misbah easily. When they look at him, they see not a technically sound batsman but one whose strike rate is about as exciting as room temperature. When they look at him, they see not the wins in which he was instrumental but they see that lop that rested easily in the hands of Sreesanth in 2007 and the climbing required run-rate on the scoreboard in Mohali. When they look at him, they see not a staid and solid skipper but a stolid one.
Thus, when he was selected as our captain ahead of the much-loved Lala, many people’s dislike of him grew even more visceral. His (deceptively) risk-averse behaviour is anathema to the average Pakistani fed incessantly on an addictive concoction of socio-cultural endorphins and socio-political adrenaline.
There is no arguing with the Misbah detractors: after all, you can’t reason somebody out of something they weren’t reasoned into. And this is what Misbah nay-saying is/was: unreasonable. How can we select somebody as a captain who isn’t even an automatic selection for the team, they say. He is so conciliatory with the cricketing powers that be, they say. He is everything Pakistani cricket is not, they lament.
But here’s the thing about Misbah: he just doesn’t care. Just like his batting, he has gone about this captaincy business with a dogged determination. Despite the barrage of criticism about his ‘listlessness’ and ‘defensive’ cricket in the last year, Misbah has been at it, engineering a paradigm shift in this team. Unlike the change the other Khan Niazi from Mianwali wants to bring, this is not a tsunami but a slow and sure trickle.
Let’s do some simple number-crunching for those still not on the Misbah bandwagon yet. Under his captaincy, Pakistan has been unbeaten in the past six Test series it has played. Yes, two of these were against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe but two of these were also wins against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. That is not to forget the two draws against the Proteas (one of which we could have won had he dared but could have lost too), and the drawn short series against the Windies.
But even those who had been saying that Team Misbah had not been given an adequate Test up till now must now also hold their peace after the ‘pommelling’ of the Poms. England is after all the big one, the numero uno of Test-playing nations that gave a comprehensive thumping not too long ago to the erstwhile numero uno. This is a side that has four batsmen in the Top Ten in the ICC rankings, cleaned out for under 200 in consecutive innings. This is after all the team with a bowling attack that has gone on a romp of 18.17 wickets per Test in the last year.
Not an easy team to beat one would say but Misbah’s methodical team made it look so in the first Test.
And he has led from the front not only in terms of giving the team a strategic game-plan but also with his relentless bat. In 11 Test innings as captain, Misbah-ul-Haq has scored 632 runs at an average of 90.28 with seven fifties and one century.
Many would argue that Pakistan has done well in Tests under Misbah because his caution is the text-book Test match temperament and that these defensive tactics would fare badly in the ODIs of today where achievable targets are growing faster than the BCCI’s coffers and run-scoring is fast and furious. To these people, one would say that Team Misbah has been no mean shakes at these mean ODIs either. Consider. Under Misbah, Pakistan has played 18 ODIs and won 15 of them. Not bad, not bad at all. Then why this constant whinging about the defensiveness of Misbah especially given that his approach works?
For Pakistanis fed on cricket built around a stinger of a pace attack, this ‘lay low, go slow’ approach (which now centred around our spin doctors and seamers) was dissonant and disorienting which could explain the criticism against Misbah’s ‘apologetic’ cricket. But it’s critical to understand that Misbah was picking up the pieces of a badly shattered outfit.
His critics say Pakistan are not playing like Pakistan under Misbah. Precisely, because Misbah understands that now is the time for Pakistan to not play like Pakistan. His approach may be defensive but his stratagems are well-crafted. His on-field leadership has been near faultless. From bowling selection (who but a fearless leader gives a spinner the 6th over in the first innings of a test) to field placement have been the right calls. That tuk-tuk (the onomatopoeic mockery of him) is not just the sound of his reliable bat but that of the clockwork of the ‘best cricketing brain in the country’ (Geoff Lawson).
His off-field leadership has been remarkable too. Knitting a team together that has been badly scarred, nay lacerated, by controversies is no mean feat. Saying that he is ‘defensive’ is no criticism (Take note: Zaheer Abbass). Given the state Pakistan cricket was in, that ‘offensive’ cricket is better cricket is not a value judgement we were in a position to make. Yes, the attacking instinct is missing (as many would remember from the 2010 Test against SA and the second ODI against SL) but so is the losing instinct. Rebuilding the team takes precedence over attacking cricket.
As Waqar Younis (perhaps the only man whose efforts in rebuilding this team are more underappreciated than Misbah’s) has acknowledged, “I have to give full credit to Misbah as he has stabilised the team and leads from the front….He makes the boys feel comfortable and relaxed so they actually enjoy their cricket.”
Misbah has said, “Entertainment can wait.” And this is where I disagree with him. Because winning is entertaining enough for me. Those crying out that his approach is boring, would they we rather revert to the ‘exciting’ days of 2010? Because watching Amir deliver the bowling spell of his life and find out the next day that he is involved in spot-fixing is not entertaining. Watching the world number one team capitulate in back-to-back innings is. Uninteresting times for Pakistan cricket. But ‘uninteresting’ here is not a euphemism for ‘boring’. Looking forward to the second Test!