Will the new regime in Pakistan cricket culminate in Misbah-ul-Haq's swansong?

Misbah will be on his first ever Test tour to England

First Test tour to England

Misbah has never been a member of the Pakistan team which toured England for a Test series. In fact, the last full tour, the infamous one, in 2010 became a catalyst for his second comeback, and not just as a player but as the captain of the team.

After that dreadful tour, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was desperately seeking a ‘neat and clean’ individual to take over the reins of the team and Misbah fitted in like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle.

A few months back Misbah showed interest in joining a county team to play four-day cricket in 2016 English summer, before the England Test series.

There was news doing the rounds in the media that he along with other main Test batsmen, will travel to England with Pakistan ‘A’ team to get some useful batting practice before the important series; unfortunately both the ideas did not materialize.

That said, there are two 3 day games against Somerset and Sussex before the first Test at Lords, which will give little if not ample practice and conditioning to him and the rest of Pakistan batting lineup.

Two old pros

The good thing is that the Pakistan team will visit England in the second half of the English summer. By then most of the pitches and conditions would not be as dreadful (for Asian teams) as they are for the Sri Lankans, who are currently playing there.

Apart from the opening Test at Lords the other three Tests are scheduled to be played at Old Trafford, Edgbaston and Oval; considering the nature of pitches on these three grounds, one can hope that Pakistan batting will put up a good fight against the likes of Anderson and Broad.

But to achieve that goal, the two old pros: Misbah and Younis will have to perform to the best of their abilities so that others like: Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq can build the innings with them.

In the twilight of his career, this tour brings the best opportunity for Misbah to silence his critics, once and for all, who have raised doubts about his ability to bat under ‘testing’ conditions.

Former captain and the current chief selector

Isn’t it ironic? The man who was allegedly responsible for Misbah’s non-selection in the Pakistan team, early in his career, has recently taken the charge as the chief selector in the PCB. History suggests that Inzamam-ul-Haq was never fond of the Test skipper. It would be interesting to see that how well and for how long they get along? As for now, let bygones be bygones.