He took the reins of a team reeling from the nadir of spot-fixing scandal and helped it realise its true potential with historic wins and accomplishments over the next seven years. Misbah-ul-Haq’s career is a story of determination and resilience, much like the spirit of the Pakistani nation.
Misbah has a master’s degree in business management and it was his calm and level-headed approach - perhaps, a by-product of his education – that helped him strategise Pakistan’s rise to the summit of the ICC Test rankings in 2016 despite playing their cricket in exile.
Misbah – the most successful Test captain from Pakistan with 26 wins in 56 matches – took over the reins of the Test side in 2010 and helped Pakistan to a 1-0 win over New Zealand in just his second series as the captain.
Pakistan won four consecutive Test series on trot from September 2011 until January 2012 with their most famous of the series wins coming at the end of the streak when they recorded a 3-0 cleansweep over England, then top-ranked in the format.
Two years later, Pakistan defeated Australia 2-0 in the UAE as Misbah famously levelled Vivian Richards’ record for the fastest century off only 57 balls at Abu Dhabi. The team went on to record series wins in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in 2015 and defeated England 2-0 in the UAE.
The most important tour of Misbah’s career, however, came in 2016 when Pakistan returned to England for a four-match Test series. This was the first time that Pakistan returned to the British shores for a Test cricket since the 2010 debacle, and Misbah leading the team with grace and composure – both on and off the field – levelled the series 2-2.
The win in the last Test at Lord’s took Pakistan to the top of the ICC Test rankings and Misbah became the first Pakistan captain to hold the coveted Test mace in September 2016.
He conquered the Caribbean in his last international series by becoming the first Pakistan captain to win a Test series there. He was days away from turning 43.
Though Misbah had made his international debut in 2001 in a Test at Auckland, he never really cemented his place until 2007. He got his breakthrough in 2007 when he was named in the squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. He finished as the best Pakistan batter and singlehandedly took Pakistan close to being the inaugural champions from a precarious position.
Impressed by his mental toughness, the selectors named him in the Pakistan squad for the subsequent tour of India and Misbah repaid their faith with dual centuries in three Tests and finished with 464 runs.
There were famous ODI wins too under his leadership. He was also the architect of Pakistan’s first ODI series win in South Africa in 2013 – which was also the first instance of an Asian side winning an ODI series there. He also led Pakistan to only their second Asia Cup title in 2012 in Bangladesh with a thrilling victory over the hosts in the final. In what remains their last bilateral tour of India, Pakistan, in January 2013, won three-match series 2-1. He retired from limited overs cricket in 2015 after leading Pakistan to the quarter-final of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.
He had been a strong leader in domestic cricket and helped Faisalabad region to wins across formats in 2012-13. He added another trophy to his much-decorated cabinet by leading Islamabad United to the HBL Pakistan Super League title in the inaugural edition.
An ODI century eluded Misbah, but his 5,122 runs were scored at 43.40 – underscoring his consistency. He hit half-centuries in 42 of the 149 innings. He hit 10 Test centuries and 39 half-centuries in 75 matches on his way to 5,222 runs. In 39 T20Is, he scored 788 runs at a strike rate of 110.20.
Misbah was born in Mianwali in 1974 and had a stint as a head coach and chief selector of the national men’s team from 2019 until 2021.
