Over the years I have criticized Misbah no end for his ODI captaincy and for his ODI batting. I believe replacing Shahid Afridi as ODI captain in 2011 with Misbah was one of the gravest mistakes ever committed. Misbah's defensive approach crippled Pakistan's ODI team and we are all aware of the sad state our ODI team is in.

The same approach however did wonders for the Test team, and for that I applaud Misbah Ul Haq the Test Captain and the Test Batsman.

What Misbah achieved in his almost 7 years as captain of Pakistan's Test team is unprecedented in the history of Pakistan cricket.

Here is a look at his accomplishments as a Test Captain.

GREATEST TEST CAPTAIN FROM THE SUBCONTINENT

Number 1 Test Ranking for Pakistan.
Most Test wins ever for a Pakistan captain.
Second most Test wins for a captain from the subcontinent.
Most test wins away from home for a subcontinent captain.
Most Test series wins for a subcontinent captain.
First Test series win over Australia in over 20 years.
3-0 clean sweep of England when they were Number 1.
Pakistan's record and world's 6th highest run chase in Test cricket.
World's fastest run chase in Test cricket.
Pakistan's first ever Test series win in the West Indies.
Most Test wins by a captain from the Subcontinent in the West Indies.

These achievements by the team under Misbah truly make him the greatest Test captain ever for Pakistan; and probably from the Subcontinent too.


ONE OF THE BEST FROM PAKISTAN

Misbah recently became the 7th batsman from Pakistan to score 5,000 Test runs. He ended his career as the 6th highest run scorer for Pakistan in test cricket. One can only wonder how many more he could have scored had he played as much as the ones above him.

BEST TEST BATSMAN FROM THE SUBCONTINENT AS A CAPTAIN

Misbah scored over 80% of his Test runs - 4,214 to be exact - as captain of Pakistan. He scored 8 of his 10 Test centuries and 35 of his 39 fifties as captain.

He is not only the highest run scorer among all Test captains from Pakistan, he is also the highest run scorer among all Test captains from the Subcontinent; and the only batsman from the Subcontinent with over 4,000 Test runs as captain.

Among all Test captains, Misbah has the 8th highest runs tally and has one of the best averages among the top 10 highest scoring captains of all time.

MATCH WINNER AS A CAPTAIN

Misbah not only contributed to Pakistan's test wins as a leader of the troops on the field; he also led from the front as a batsman scoring more runs than any captain from the Subcontinent in Test victories.

Among all Test captains he has the 7th highest runs tally in Test victories, and his phenomenal average of 69.7 is the third best of all time, behind two great Australian captains.

FASTEST HUNDRED AND FIFTY IN TESTS

It is quite ironic that a man who became known as "Tuk Tuk" due to his ultra defensive batting holds the record for the fastest fifty and second fastest century scored in Test cricket.

When he got that century off only 56 deliveries against Australia, it was the joint fastest ever in the history of the game. It was bettered by Brendan McCullum.



Misbah's retirement is one of those rare Pakistani sport retirements that have come at a time when he was still at the top of his game. Rarely have Pakistani greats bowed out the way Misbah did after Pakistan's first ever series victory in the West Indies.

It was a match and series that will be remembered for a long time to come.

Misbah was truly captain fantastic for Pakistan and one of the best leaders to serve our nation. There hasn't been anyone like him, and I doubt there will be any in the future.

Imran Khan was perhaps the last Pakistani cricketer who retired with grace after accomplishing what no one before him had.

And now, after all these years, another Khan and another Niazi, have bid farewell to the game like no one before them. One after a series where he became the first Pakistani batsman to reach 10,000 test runs; the other after becoming the first Pakistani captain to win a test series in the Caribbean.

These two feats are just the icing over the unparalleled careers that the two legends, Younis Khan and Misbah Ul Haq, have had.

I don't think any Pakistani cricketer got a send off as grand and as epic as these two did, and boy did they deserve it!

Talk about an epic farewell series.

Talk about an epic last test match of your career.

Even if one had put the best writers to task, no one would have scripted the end better than the way it folded in front of our eyes during the last session at Windsor Park in Dominica last night.

Pakistan had waited 60 years for this victory. Imran Khan had spent half his career trying to achieve this victory.

Surely it is not the same West Indies; but it hasn't been for two decades now and yet Pakistan never managed to win a series there.

Till last night.

The last hour, while Roston Chase blocked and blocked and blocked, all those memories of bad umpiring decisions, missed run outs, lost opportunities came haunting back.

That hour was so nerve wrecking for us fans that one can only imagine what Misbah, Younis, and the other nine men on the field would have been going through.

Anything less than a win would have been such a depressing end to two legendary careers.

Anything less than a win would have meant that Pakistan lost the best chance they had at a series win in the Caribbean.

Pakistan held on though.

They held on to their belief and they kept fighting.

You could see the Pakistanis flustered though. Yasir was running in faster, bowling a little faster and flatter, almost as if he was in some hurry. Probably to get in as many overs as possible.

Till that final delivery.

All nine fielders moved in closer.

They were all right under Gabriel's nose.

Everyone knew the importance of that delivery, but no one more than Yasir.

He delivered it a bit slower than the rest of his over.

It came looping down enticing Gabriel.

And the rest ...

What an end seriously. What an epic end for Misbah and Younis.

Despite the heavy criticism of Misbah the ODI leader and batsman, Misbah the Test captain has been absolutely phenomenal.

1. Barring injury, Misbah will end his career having captained Pakistan in 56 tests and becoming the 9th most capped captain in the world and second most capped from the subcontinent after MS Dhoni.
2. One win will give Misbah 25 test wins as captain, taking him past Alastair Cook. Three wins will take him past Mark Taylor and Michael Vaughan, and place him level with Sir Viv Richards, MS Dhoni, and Hansie Cronje.
3. Younis Khan is 23 runs away from becoming the first batsman from Pakistan to score 10,000 runs in test cricket.
4. Younis Khan requires another 146 runs to surpass Sunil Gavaskar's test runs tally of 10,122 and become the 5th most prolific test batsman from the Subcontinent.
5. Younis Khan needs one more century to become the first batsman from Pakistan to score 35 test centuries. If he scores two centuries he will join Rahul Dravid with 36 test centuries, the 5th most in the world and 3rd most by a batsman from the subcontinent.
6. Misbah is 49 runs away from completing 5,000 runs in test cricket. He will become the 7th batsman from Pakistan to score 5,000 test runs.
7. Misbah requires another 112 runs to surpass Zaheer Abbas' runs tally of 5,062 to become the 6th highest run scorer from Pakistan in tests.
8. Misbah is 47 runs away from becoming the first batsman from Pakistan to score 4,000 test runs as captain. Another 4 runs will take Misbah past Michael Clarke's runs tally of 3,946 and place him at 9th for most runs as test captain. 

I will definitely do a numbers post on these two extremely prolific batsmen, but that will have to wait till the three tests against the West Indies are over.

There will be a few more records and much else to celebrate then - Pakistan's first 10K in tests, Pakistan's first 4K as Test captain, and quite possibly Pakistan's first 35th test ton.

Numbers however, will only tell half the story in the case of these two stalwarts. Their services to Pakistan's test cricket over the past decade are incomparable.

Both Younis Khan and Misbah Ul Haq will be missed immensely, not only for the runs they produce in the middle, but more so for their respective contributions off the field, in the dressing room, and on the other players.






























YOUNIS KHAN

He is Pakistan's very own King Khan.

Besides claiming every single test batting record there is to claim for Pakistan, Younis has had an impact like no other on an entire generation of batsmen.

He has been a major guiding force for many young batsmen, an instrumental contributor to the success of these batsmen, and a true role model that the likes of Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Ahmed Shehzad, Shan Masood all look up to.

Younis has built partnerships with each one of the above mentioned batsmen that have taken Pakistan to great achievements. There is a reason why no one else from Pakistan has been a part of as many century partnerships in tests than Younis Khan has. He scores runs himself and he enables his partner to accumulate plenty of runs as well.

Each of Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, and Umar Akmal will tell you a story about how Younis Khan helped them reach their first test hundred. Many others will tell you how easy Younis makes it for his partners while he is at the crease. Pakistan's coaches will tell you how hardworking and dedicated Younis Khan is. Pakistan's test captains will tell you the impact Younis Khan has on the dressing room.

It is these things that cannot be measured by numbers that Younis Khan will be mostly remembered for.

MISBAH UL HAQ

Captain Fantastic!

From taking on the reigns of Pakistan's test team in 2010 following the spot fixing scandal to breaking all the captaincy records there are to break for Pakistan, Misbah Ul Haq has been an exceptional leader.

He has taken Pakistan's test cricket to heights never witnessed before. He took the team out of turmoil, instilled belief and confidence in them, developed a culture like never before, and achieved unprecedented results.

Misbah's achievements as a leader in whites are incomparable.

Never has Pakistan's test cricket seen such continuity in selection and such stability in a batting order over 6-7 years; credit for all of this is to Misbah who has led these men with aplomb.

Enabled by Misbah, the team has broken records, the batsmen have broken records, and Misbah himself has broken records. Such is the greatness of this test team that the records they have established since 2010 will probably remain Pakistan's records for a long time to come.

I am an 80s kid who has grown up on Pakistan cricket and the magic they have produced.

Javed Miandad's last ball six, Waqar Younis' last ball yorker, Pakistan's World Cup 1992 win, and the numerous unbelievable victories orchestrated by the wizardry of the two Ws created an entire generation of Pakistan cricket fans who dare to dream.

Who believe that the impossible can be achieved.

Who never lose hope.

For whom the famous words from Miandad "the match is not over till the last ball is bowled" are etched in memory forever and they live by it.

I consider myself the most optimistic Pakistan cricket fan, yet even I had lost all hope when Pakistan were bowled out for 142 in the first innings and then eventually set a target of 490.

490! Never done before.

To top that, Pakistan's batting had been abysmal in the first innings, the two tests in New Zealand, and in the third test against the West Indies.

How could anyone hope for a miracle?

Not many did, but when Asad Shafiq's magnificence led Pakistan to within 100 runs of the target at the end of day 4, all of Pakistan dreamed again.

Even with only two wicket left, hope had become alive again and all of Pakistan prayed for a miracle.

It was not meant to be; it was never meant to be, but Pakistan getting to within 40 runs of the target was a monumental effort. It is an achievement that deserves all the praise in the world for the effort and the belief of Team Misbah.

It would have been an epic chase, but even now it will go down in history as an epic 4th innings fight.

This Team Misbah has surprised us way too many times now, especially in the 4th innings of tests.

It has once again stirred belief in supporters that the teams of the 80s and 90s had done.

The scoreline sure reads 1-0 to Australia, but Pakistan's hopes for Melbourne and Sydney have multiplied and the Aussies will surely need to step up their game to keep Team Misbah at bay!