Misbah-ul-Haq shuts the ‘loud mouth’ critics up

Misbah-ul-Haq shuts the ‘loud mouth’ critics up

For those who kept on criticising Misbah-ul-Haq throughout last year should now be ashamed of themselves, as the Pakistan skipper has guided his side to a convincing victory over the number one Test side in the world, England.

Misbah was appointed captain of the Test side after Salman Butt was suspended from cricket due to the spot fixing scandal.

Younis Khan had refused the offer of leading the side in any format and Shahid Afridi announced retirement from the longest version of the game during the controversial English tour in 2010.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was out of options and seemed to have no choice but to appoint Misbah as captain of the national Test side.

This decision was followed by a lot of criticism, but the 37-year-old responded well by levelling a two-match series against South Africa in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Not only did Misbah lead the team well, he scored runs in the series against one of the best bowling attacks. This gave a lot of confidence to him and he went onto win an away series in New Zealand.

Although the solid right-handed batsman was unable to win the first ever Test series for Pakistan in West Indies, he managed to draw it by 1-1.

Due to a rift between PCB and Afridi, Misbah got a chance to lead the side in all three formats of the game. He was pretty much impressive, guiding the team to victories against Ireland, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2011.

Despite such an impressive show, the Pakistan skipper was not given any credit and critics claimed that he had only enjoyed success because of playing against weaker opponents.

Many claimed that the Men in Green will suffer thumping defeats against England in a series, that kicked off with a Test match in Dubai.

However, Misbah did not bother about the negative remarks and guided the team to a 10-wicket win against the Poms, going one up in the series.

You do not need to be an expert to judge that Misbah came out with a definite plan against the number one Test side and outfoxed them completely. Even the English commentators admitted that the hosts played exceptionally and were led superbly.

This performance by Misbah and the Pakistan cricket team is a slap on the face of all critics, who pass baseless remarks on the team’s captain.

Although the so called analysts will once again find a way to criticise Misbah, one thing is for sure that their loud mouths will be shut for quite some time now.

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Posted by Waqar Masood on Jan 19 2012. Filed under Opinion, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry