Comment by Riaz Haq on February 11, 2012 at 4:08pm

Here's an interesting op ed in Sri Lanka's The Nation on Pakistani cricket team:

Two years ago Pakistan cricket was in tatters. On top of not being able to host a single international team at home due to security concerns, a perception that has been there since the Sri Lanka cricket team was attacked in March 2009, Pakistan’s cricket image plummeted to its lowest ebb at the end of their tour of England in 2010 when they were beaten on the field and three of their cricketers including the captain were found guilty of spot fixing and condemned to serve jail sentences. It was perhaps the darkest hour in Pakistan’s cricket history.

Pakistan cricket needed a messiah to resurrect their fallen image from the eyes of the international cricket community and thereby emerged an individual by the name of Misbah-ul-Haq who took on the responsibility of captain at the age of 36 to steady the rocking ship and bring a sense of calm to an unpredictable team. Misbah’s unflappable temperament which shows in his batting and perhaps his degree in business management helped him manage and get the best out of his players. Not since Imran Khan won the World Cup for Pakistan in 1992 has there been a leader who could get the team to play together as a unit successfully.

The success of Pakistan with Misbah at the helm has been translated in no uncertain manner in the way they have gone about their business of winning. They have gone through seven Test series without a defeat. Unable to host international matches at home, Pakistan have made the United Arab Emirates (UAE) their home venue. A drawn two-Test series against South Africa (0-0) was followed by series victories over Sri Lanka (1-0) and England (3-0). Sandwiched between these series Pakistan won 1-0 in New Zealand, drew 1-all in West Indies, won 1-0 in Zimbabwe and won 2-0 in Bangladesh.
Their greatest triumph among all these wins was completing a clean sweep over the current ICC ranked no. 1 Test side England whom they comprehensively beat 3-0 for the first time. The win was described effectively by former England Ashes winning captain Michael Vaughan who said, “The better team won, that’s all you can say, Pakistan have been outstanding, they’ve been a unit, I’ve been very impressed by their professionalism, their unity in the field. England weren’t technically good enough, strong mentally, Pakistan have completely dominated with the ball. That’s been the story of the series actually, ball dominated bat.”

As much as Misbah and his players should take credit for Pakistan’s successes chief selector Mohsin Khan also deserves equal praise. Mohsin took on the role of interim coach of the Pakistan team last September when head coach Waqar Younis resigned for personal reasons. The former Test opener left his position as chief selector to help Pakistan to series wins over Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and England.

Following his successful track record Mohsin showed interest in continuing as head coach on a permanent basis thus making it difficult for the Pakistan Cricket Board to replace him with a permanent coach Dav Whatmore with whom they already had talks during the England series. However the latest developments in Karachi indicate that the PCB has managed to convince the national team players to replace Mohsin with Whatmore.

Pakistan showed that they were made of champion stuff when they recovered remarkably after being shot out for 99 in the first innings of the third Test in Dubai to beat England by 71 runs and complete the whitewash, which was England’s first since officially becoming ranked no. 1 Test team....

http://www.nation.lk/edition/sport-online/item/2590-point-blank-the...

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