#MisYou has become a twitter trend since the giants of Pakistan batting, Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, announced that they will retire after the ongoing West Indies tour.
Since the announcement, praise was showered, tributes were paid and a grand farewell was planned for the two shinning jewels in an otherwise not so glittering Pakistan’s batting crown.
The last seven years saw renaissance of Pakistan’s Test team with the Misbah-Younis combination being the prime reason for this. The top-order would always flutter but when Younis would be joined by Misbah, the repair work would begin. Together till the West Indies series, they have put together 15 century stands, adding a total of 3205 runs at an average of 69.67. Only four pairs have bettered that in the world underlining the importance of Younis and Misbah to Pakistan’s batting.
As persons they are as different as chalk-and-cheese, Misbah is an introvert and would hide his sentiments. Younis was more of an extrovert and would not hide his emotions. But their goals were common – to lift their team, to contribute, to help their young teammates develop. It was through their efforts that Pakistan briefly rose to world number one in Test rankings in August last year.
Misbah struck a historic hundred at Lord’s, followed by his new famous push-ups to celebrate in a new style. Younis’ 218 at The Oval in the decider not only helped Pakistan square a four-match Test series 2-2 but also paved team’s way to the top.
Together they are leaving behind a legacy, a settled Test team and examples for youngsters to follow. Off the field, they set fitness standards and were the fittest amongst a lot who are mostly 20 years younger than them.
A young member of the team once said Younis challenged him in a sprint on three occasions and won every time. Both had other things in common as they had a shared struggle towards greatness.
Misbah would travel in jam-packed trains from his hometown Mianwali to Faisalabad to play club cricket. Younis migrated from his native Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to Karachi and weathered ethnic violence in Karachi in 1990s.
There are other stories of their younger days which caught attention. Misbah was once enraged by opponents and ran after them with two broken bottles, Younis left a civic reception before it started owing to a disagreement. Principle always comes first.
Younis never looked back once he scored a hundred on Test debut. His career blossomed after the 2005 tour of India where he hit an epic double hundred in his captain and predecessor Inzamam-ul-Haq’s hundreth Test in Bengaluru. Such was the brilliance that Inzamam jokingly termed it a “he sit on his milestone match”.
But after Inzy left the scene, Younis’ career went into a bit of a tailspin in 2010. He was accused of acting against team’s cause by the then Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt. He along with Mohammad Yousuf was banned for an indefinite period. That forced him to miss nine Tests before he returned to the team when Misbah was installed as captain in October 2010.
Misbah’s career can also be viewed in two phases. He was in and out most of the time since making his Test debut in New Zealand in 2001. After a disastrous tour of Australia in 2009-10, Misbah was discarded from an initial list of 35 players. It broke his heart. “You find yourself in the XI and suddenly you are not even in a preliminary squad of 35, it prompts you to burn all your cricket equipment in anger,” Misbah told this writer. He was planning to settle in UK before a huge turnaround came in his life.
In the post spot-fixing scandal of 2010, Misbah was offered captaincy – secretly in a peon’s room to avoid prying media – and his career resuscitated – as captain.
Misbah and Younis had contrasting fortunes as captain. Younis’s high point was the World Twenty20 win in 2009 — Pakistan’s only big achievements other than the 1992 World Cup win in white ball cricket. But Younis had only that triumph to remember as captain.
He twice relinquished captaincy in controversial styles, the last of which ended in a players’ revolt against him.
Misbah won more rewards. He led Pakistan in 53 Tests with 24 wins and 18 losses (before the West Indies series) – even better than the great Imran Khan. Not only did Misbah unify the team, but also cleaned the sullied image of the team which earned him “spirit of cricket” award.
Together, the pair will leave Pakistan cricket in a better place than when they started, albeit leaving a big hole in the batting line-up, forever!
- The author is a cricket writer based in Karachi
