Remember that saying in sport – and in life, for that matter – about how fine the line is between success and failure? Some players and some teams walk that line all the time.
It used to feel right to say that Misbah-ul-Haq was stationed on that line permanently, cussedly not falling this side or that for anyone to definitively argue whether he had ultimately succeeded or failed.
But, over time, so resolutely unaffected have Pakistan’s performances been under Misbah that it has become possible, in an abstract way, to see him become the line. He is not walking that line anymore; he is that thin line, a clean separator with triumph and disaster on either side.
Think about this. Even now, as he chooses to sit out an ODI and possibly signals the end of his captaincy in the format, there is almost an equal weight for either side of the argument as to whether he should stay or go. As many pros can be given to it as cons.
Now that the prospect of his departure is a real one, it is difficult not to feel a little wary for a Misbah-less Pakistan side.
During the past couple of years the sight of Misbah walking in as batting salvation has become wearily familiar. Stopping the rot, or at least delaying it, if not quite turning it around.
In the field, too, gently shepherding his side, setting an impeccable standard on – and off – the ground, Misbah has been a kind of security blanket.
Even more than success and failure, the real parameters on which to judge Misbah’s influence and effect are stability and inertia.
Has he stabilised Pakistan, which is what they needed when he became captain and which is what their batting almost always needs? Or has he made them too inert, which is, historically, not the way they play best and which has made their batting so distressingly pedestrian at times?
For 88 ODIs as batsman and 75 as captain (and one in 2008), this has been the way; these have been the forces that have buffeted his leadership.
For it to suddenly not be the way, even if it is for one game, is hugely disorientating. What on earth can discussion be about now? Will Pakistan bloom in his absence, as his detractors argue? Will they collapse in a heap, as his supporters maintain?
It is also difficult not to feel a little sad, particularly because of the circumstances around this. His age does not help: at 40, even a small sample of five one-day innings without a decent score start to weigh heavy. It has weighed heaviest on Misbah.
Forces within the team and management have been playing for precisely this moment, and as Misbah took the decision to sit out on Sunday evening, he was not a particularly happy man.
It was his decision, but it was not as if support has been forthcoming from around him.
With the absence of Mohammad Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal – two key allies – he has become a little isolated. A murder of crows, masquerading as former cricketers, have been pecking away at him from the outside, galvanising public support. Wanting Misbah out has become a cause.
It is unbecoming, even more in light of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan's assessment of his decision as a "noble" one. When Misbah went on to the field briefly as a substitute in Sunday's game in Abu Dhabi, it reinforced that basic nobility: which Pakistan captain can you even contemplate running out as a sub?
Misbah wants to regain some form in Test cricket and then return. That is the plan, but the plans of Pakistan cricket make those of mice and men look robust and sensible.
What if he does not return? What if he fails in the Tests? Is Shahid Afridi the man to lead Pakistan into the World Cup? The risks inherent in that are well-known. It was risky in 2011 and, though it paid off to a degree, it is even riskier now.
He is four years older and his bowling, in particular, is four years older, too. Pakistan can only wish that his batting was four years wiser, but it is not.
If this is to be the end of Misbah, the only consolation is that hindsight might finally provide his tenure a definitive assessment.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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