The opportunity to play county cricket in England could convince Misbah-ul-Haq to postpone his retirement and stay on as Pakistan captain for his country’s summer tour to England next year.
Misbah will be 42 by then and his future has been a subplot through the just-concluded series win over England in the UAE. On Thursday, after Pakistan beat England in Sharjah to move up to second place in the Test rankings, Misbah again made no definitive decision on his future.
But it is believed he is keen to secure a county contract for next season, which could help him maintain the fitness and form he feels is necessary for the series.
Before this series began, Misbah had said that the prospect of a tilt at India in the UAE in December had kept him from retiring.
The chances of that contest happening, however, are receding by the day – and that any series may include Tests.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has publicly asked Misbah to consider continuing as captain but one of the obstacles is Pakistan’s sparse Test schedule. If India do not visit, or do not play Tests, Pakistan have no five-day games until they travel to England.
For Misbah, now only playing one format that constitutes too long a gap. That, he believes, could only be overcome by a stint of county cricket before the England tour. That could alleviate some of the rustiness as well as familiarise him with conditions in which Pakistan’s batting, on their last tour at least, struggled to adjust to.
At the end of the Sharjah Test, Misbah said he would not rush any decision on his future.
“I have some time to think about that, but at the moment I’m not sure. I am thinking seriously about it, let’s see, we have enough time for the series. I can plan what I am going to do in the next two, three months,
“Obviously [the hunger] is there, I love the game and want to play it. It’s really difficult when you are not there playing any competitive cricket for six, seven or eight months and suddenly you come and play against top players.”
If personal form is any guide, then there is no case for retirement. Misbah had a successful series, ending up as his side’s second-highest scorer with 352 runs at nearly 60 and his form, as captain, has generally been outstanding.
But he conceded that having not played any international cricket after a series in Sri Lanka in July meant that he felt out of sorts coming in to this series.
“I can still play domestic cricket and be ready for that kind of challenge but that’s not easy. I feel that whenever the Tests come the first game is always difficult and the body mechanism is not working. I feel when I am playing after a long time it takes one or two innings to settle.”
Another factor that may convince him to stay on is the challenge of playing a series outside Asia. In his five years as captain, the only major opponent Pakistan have played outside Asia is South Africa, where they were whitewashed 3-0.
“I think our biggest challenge is to play abroad so we have to get ready for that and prepare for that. There we have to play differently, plan differently and that’s going to be big challenge for us. If we are a very good team we really have to prove ourselves in foreign conditions.”
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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