by You'd have got long odds that India, after getting to #1 and adding
the World Cup to book would lose 8 away Tests on the trot. But you'd
have got even longer odds in 2010, if you had best that England would
have got to #1 (by a clear margin) and be thrashed 3-0 by Pakistan...
Misbah-ul-Haq is undoubtedly the best captain in the game right now by
some margin, and deserves to be discussed amongst the greats. Not
just for his results, which are superb, but for the abyss from which
he has dragged back his team.
Of its last 10 tests (starting with the series-tying win against WI),
Pakistan has won EIGHT, and drawn 2 (vs SL).
As skipper 15 Tests, NINE wins, 5 draws, ONE loss to WI. And leading
from the front (or the rear more likely as he often shores up a late
one ton... but a remarkable 13 50+ scores in 25 innings!!
Pakistan's last 10 Tests..
WI won 196 runs won 1st n * 2nd Test in WI 2011 at
Basseterre [1993]
Zim won 7 wickets won 2nd n * Only Test in Zim 2011 at
Bulawayo [2006]
SL draw - won 2nd n * 1st Test in UAE 2011/12 at Abu
Dhabi [2009]
SL won 9 wickets lost 2nd n * 2nd Test in UAE 2011/12 at Dubai
(DSC) [2011]
SL draw - lost 2nd n * 3rd Test in UAE 2011/12 at Sharjah
[2014]
BD won inn & 184r won 2nd n * 1st Test in BD 2011/12 at
Chittagong [2022]
BD won 7 wickets won 2nd n * 2nd Test in BD 2011/12 at Dhaka
[2024]
Eng won 10 wickets lost 2nd n * 1st Test in UAE 2011/12 at Dubai
(DSC) [2030]
Eng won 72 runs won 1st n * 2nd Test in UAE 2011/12 at Abu
Dhabi [2032]
Eng won 71 runs won 1st n * 3rd Test in UAE 2011/12 at Dubai
(DSC) [2034]
Series: 7 Series, 5 series won (last 4 in a row),
OK, beating up on the weak mostly before England, but 0-0 versus SA
before then as well showed a glimpse of this. Late last year I had
posted that England better watch out, and that Pak may not be the
pushover one would expect -- but I had no premonitions of an 0-3
whitewash -- WIPQ style, except with tweak and turn rather than fire
and pace.
Bharat