Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq continues to defy all expectations

He is well into his 40s, but he is still scoring runs, is firmly in control as leader of the Pakistan cricket team and shows no signs of slowing down, writes Osman Samiuddin.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq scored his 32nd Test half-century on Sunday. Jason O'Brien / Reuters

What if Sunday was the last time Misbah-ul-Haq walked out to the toss, in that green blazer that manages to make his shoulders look cartoonishly square, as Pakistan captain?

What if it was the penultimate time he walked out to bat for Pakistan, in the strife that he is more used to?

A caveat first. At last count, the end of Misbah’s career has been predicted, well, beyond the number of times it is considered polite to keep count of. I did it last year, just ahead of the home season, wondering what Misbah would have left to achieve if he won a series against Australia, which no Pakistan captain had done in 20 years. And at over 40, what else would he have left to give physically and mentally?

PODCAST Shane Warne offers his advice to Pakistan and England spinners ahead of final Test

POLL What will be the result of the Pakistan v England Test at Sharjah?

Yet here we are, a year on, Misbah as firmly in control of his own fate as he has ever been. He is currently leading in his 27th consecutive Test. In July in Palekelle, as he led Pakistan to one of their greatest Test wins, and another series win, he broke Abdul Hafeez Kardar’s longstanding record of most consecutive Tests as Pakistan captain (it was his 24th).

Imagine that: beyond Kardar, well beyond Imran Khan, hitherto the two bywords for stability in the Pakistan captaincy. Had he not missed a Test in 2012 for a slow over-rates offence – hat tip to the International Cricket Council (ICC) there – he would right now be captaining his 43rd consecutive Test.

That would have put him sixth in the all-time list of most consecutive Tests as captain – ahead of Graeme Smith, Steve Waugh, Clive Lloyd, Sourav Ganguly, Viv Richards. Forget Imran and Kardar: imagine that.

Right now he is so in charge, so indisputably the Test captain for Pakistan that he has even doused Younis Khan’s unbecoming aggravations this year, and an unnecessary push for captaincy.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has already made clear that it wants him to stay on, until next year’s tours to England and Australia. I ask myself what is the more remarkable – the prospect that Misbah will be well over 42 by the time those tours end, or that the PCB has publicly asked a captain to not retire and stay on.

Wondering whether or not this is Misbah’s last Test is also fraught with the knowledge that no correct prediction of any action of Misbah’s is known to, or recorded by, mankind. Here was a guy whose career was thought to have ended before it even really began.

He himself is undecided. He says he will take a little more time once the series is over – of course he will. His whole shtick has been to take time. Should a Test series against India materialise from the jumble of jingoism, politics and cricket brinksmanship it is currently buried under, that would be a fitting end. It would also be a timely one.

Otherwise England and Australia next summer? If there is anything missing from Misbah’s captaincy tenure, it is a meaningful series win outside Asia. To be fair, he has hardly had an opportunity. The only major tour Pakistan have had outside Asia in the last five years was to South Africa in 2013.

It would not be just a statistical fulfillment of some kind. It would be a deeper examination of what Misbah has helped built over the last five years – a test for men such as Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq, and some of their bowlers who so indelibly are Misbah’s men.

Not least, it would be a test of Misbah’s leadership and his batting. He has been immense as a batting captain, yet is still barely tested in conditions outside his comfort zone.

But what if this really is his last Test? Azhar Ali is in line to take over though that is neither here nor there. If history is any guide, prospects are not especially bright.

It tells us that moving on from an especially stable captaincy – Kardar, Imran, even Javed Miandad – has led directly to a period of extreme instability.

Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE