FIRST BIG TEST FOR PAKISTAN’S ‘MOST SUCCESSFUL’ TEST SKIPPER

Misbah-ul-Haq became captain of Pakistan team in 2010 when previous captain Salman Butt was banned due to spot fixing and Pakistan lost two key fast bowlers Muhammad Amir and Muhammad Asif. Pakistan were deprived of the privilege of playing at home and had to play home Tests in United Arab Emirates (UAE). Misbah’s first series as captain was against South Africa, who luckily did not have any threatening spinner. South Africa had a strong batting line-up and two lesser known spinners, Johan Botha and Paul Harris, so Pakistan managed to draw the series 1-1. Next assignment was against inexperienced and emerging New Zealand side at their home, which Pakistan won 1-0.

Pakistan could have won it 2-0 as they needed 274 runs on the last day but Misbah chose to be on safer side and scored 70 runs off 226 balls as Pakistan scored 226/5 in 92 overs to draw the second match. It was Pakistan’s first Test series win after four years. After that, Pakistan drew Test series 1-1 with West Indies in West Indies. Pakistan was given a target of 219 in first Test but fell 40 runs short. Second test was won by convincing margin of 196 runs. In July, Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka 1-0 in 3-match test series in UAE.

After that, Pakistan defeated Bangladesh 2-0 in Bangladesh and that was followed by 3-0 win against World No.1 England in UAE, as Pakistani spinners Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman and Muhammad Hafeez ran through England batting line-up on spin-friendly pitches. Pakistan had another drought of more than two years as they lost 1-0 to Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, were whitewashed 3-0 by South Africa in South Africa, which was Pakistan’s first series on fast and bouncy pitches after a long time. In 2013, Pakistan lost a Test to Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, which was African country’s first Test win against any of the top 8 sides in 12 years. Pakistan’s drew that series 1-1. That was followed by 1-1 draw series against South Africa in UAE and 1-1 draw against Sri Lanka at the same venue. Pakistan lost 2-0 to Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka despite having a strong batting line-up and experienced spinners. Pakistan had not won a Test series for 2 years and 9 months when Australia visited us in the UAE. The Kangaroos did not have any experienced spinner, which was like a treat for Pakistani batsmen. Australian fast bowlers could not do much on slow pitches and Younis Khan, Azhar Ali and Misbah took full advantage, as nine centuries were scored by Pakistani batsmen in two matches. Pakistan won the series 2-0 to end the drought.

In the following month, Pakistan played New Zealand in UAE and it was expected that result would be similar to Australia series, as even Kiwis did not have any notable spinner. Pakistan won the first Test by big margin, drew the second one and lost the third Test by an innings. In 2015, Pakistan defeated Bangladesh 1-0 in Bangladesh, defeated Sri Lanka 2-1 in Sri Lanka and then defeated England 2-0 in UAE.

Now comes the big test against England in England, where Pakistan struggled in 2006 and 2010. Englishmen will be hungry for revenge and their fast bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad will be drooling. Pakistan has not lost a test series for almost two years and Misbah has been cherished as being the most successful Pakistani captain in tests with 19 wins but it will be the first series for Misbah in England. They had lost 3-0 on bouncy pitches of South Africa three years back, which shows that it will be a big challenge on English pitches, where Sri Lankan batsmen were left clueless recently and teams like Australia and India have also suffered losses in last two tours. Pakistani team has left for England three weeks ahead of the first Test so that they can become familiar with the conditions and it will be interesting to see how Misbah, Azhar and Younis tackle English bowlers and conditions. It will also be a big test for Muhammad Amir, who would resume his test career from where he had left it six years back.

Misbah has the firepower in his bowling line-up but lacks the spin attack that could have proved lethal for the English batsmen. His batsmen are hardly reliable and no matter what the statistics say, it will be the first time Misbah will be out of his comfort zone in three years and it is yet to be seen how he and his men respond to the challenge.

Source: Dunya News