Misbah shows form is temporary, class permanent

Captain of Pakistan cricket team putting a side his growing age, has done wonders in the desert of UAE by making number of national and international records. Former cricketers appreciating his aggressive style of captaincy in the three test matches Pakistan played, two against Australia and one against black caps. It was not too long ago when Misbah-ul-Haq seemed to have fallen out of favour with PCB and he was dropped from the final ODI against Australia but he showed from his performance that it was a bad decision . In an amazing turnaround in the Test series that followed and now in the first Test against New Zealand, he stands today as the acknowledged most successful captain in the history of Pakistan Test Cricket by winning 15 tests out of 33, thereby bettering the records of Imran Khan and Javed Miandad. Overcoming all the usual rivalries and hurdles that endemically afflict Pakistan cricket, he has emerged as the most consistent and deserving leader of the team. Misbah’s change of fortune is a reminder to everyone of the old wisdom: form is temporary, class permanent. How can one forget the moment when he was assigned the captaincy, Pakistan team was down morally as three test players were found in the spot fixing and brought shame to the game and to the country? Pakistan cricket lay virtually in ruins as a result of the spot-fixing scandal in 2010. It was the brilliance of Misbah that he took the team from bottom and took it to the top. It was his calm, mature personality that contributed to the team’s fortunes being revived out of the rubble.
After trumping Australia in the recently concluded Test series in the UAE and winning a test series against them in 20 years the team has kept up its winning streak by defeating New Zealand in the first Test. All these victories came by huge margins and team has declared the five consecutive innings, world record would be leveled if they would do it again in their next innings. The performance of our experienced as well as younger players has gladdened hearts throughout Pakistan, a rare bit of cheering news in these troubled times. With veteran batsman Younis Khan emerging from under the shadow the selectors had cast on him by dropping him from the ODI side with successive match winning performances and Misbah scoring the fastest Test fifty and also he became the joint record holder of the fastest fifty in the test cricket history along with great Viv Richards of West Indies, others too joined the run spree. Mention must also be made of the young bowlers in the side who have outplayed both the Aussies and Kiwis in Tests. During all these victories, the country has witnessed a rare display of unity in the team, credit for which must be given to the captain. It is oddly ironic that players such as Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq were judged on one or two performances. It appears that the PCB management needs to learn to recognise the strengths and weaknesses of individual players and rely on the former while helping overcome the latter. It is high time the PCB understood that once the decision to make Misbah the skipper till the World Cup 2015 had been made, it should have fully trusted and backed him through thick and thin instead of messing around with the team as it approaches the most crucial tournament ahead. It was also appreciated step taken by the PCB to announce cash prizes and bonuses for the team, which would provide more inspiration to the players to perform with the full of their capabilities.