Little that's happened in the cricketing world recently has given me as much pleasure as Pakistan's ascent to the #1 ranking in Tests. Though it finally happened in slightly farcical circumstances with the outfield fiasco in Port-of-Spain, it couldn't have come at a better time for the country, and more importantly Misbah-ul-Haq deserved it for the sterling job he's done in the last five years.
Sportspersons are constantly challenged in having to live out of hotel rooms and away from friends and family for long periods of time. And for this Pakistan team, the burden has been manifold given the inability to play even their own domestic T20 league at home, let alone international cricket. Not for a month, or a year but for nearly seven years now. That needs a huge degree of mental toughness especially for the younger players, not to say adjusting to non-home conditions. Coupled with that toughness, the other quality that this team has displayed unlike some of their predecessors is one of resilience and the ability to hang in there and fight back. As Hassan Cheema put it (much more eloquently than I can hope to), Misbah and Younis have moulded a team in their image and no praise is high enough. The best captain and best batsman (arguable both but I'd be willing to make a case) that Pakistan have had in Test cricket deserve the #1 ranking before they exit the game sometime soon. Amongst all Asian captains (who have skippered their side in more than 25 Tests), Misbah's win-loss ratio puts him ahead of all comers other than Miandad and Imran. That's ahead of acclaimed captains like Dhoni, Ganguly, Jayawardene, and Ranatunga. And barring Younis Khan, he's not had access to any all-time Pakistan greats of the likes of Wasim, Waqar, Qadir, Saleem Malik, Saqlain Mushtaq, Zaheer Abbas, and many more. Granted he's only played two matches against Australia and none against India but that's still one heck of a record. And amongst all Asian batsmen (with more than 3000 runs), Younis' average of 53.72 puts him ahead of any of his countrymen and only just behind Tendulkar and Sangakkara. Not bad for someone who's still made fun of after every couple of failures. He's also the only Pakistani to score more than 25 Test match hundreds and assuming he carries on for the tours of NZ and Australia will likely become the first batsman from his nation to go past the 10,000 run mark.
Asian success as a whole in Test cricket has been the story of this summer. Pakistan have grabbed many of the headlines given their ascent to #1 but Sri Lanka's whitewash of Australia, and India's performance in the West Indies are no less noteworthy. The Lankans spectacularly turned around a summer (and year) that had been disastrous up to then with their mauling of Smith and his (erstwhile) #1 team. And very hearteningly they did this on the back of nearly everyone in the team contributing at different stages of the matches. At the start of the tour, Mathews, Herath, and Chandimal were the only certain starters in their XI but by the finish they'd uncovered a potential world-beater of a batsman in Kusal Mendis, and a few other solid cricketers in Dilruwan Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Lakshan Sandakan, and a resurgent Kaushal Silva. They've been in transition for a long time now, but seem to finally be turning a corner and that can only be good for Test cricket.
India's win in the Caribbean was only the fifth time that they won two or more Tests in a series outside the subcontinent. And one of the earlier four was a 2-3 loss to a Packer ravaged Australian team, and one was in Zimbabwe (ie effectively doesn't count). The fact that something this rare will ultimately be considered slightly disappointing is a measure of both how quickly Kohli's young team has gelled and also how far the men in maroon have fallen. A lot of my pre-series questions have been answered (at least in my head) with the main outstanding one being whether Pujara or Rohit Sharma should be first choice. To me it feels like Rohit is the obvious answer but clearly many others think differently. 13 Test matches should certainly be enough to find the answer.
Tougher assignments loom ahead for all three teams. India have their longest home season ever and anything less than victory in 9-10 of the 13 Tests and in all four series will be viewed as a disappointment. For a team where only one player has played more than 50 Tests (Ishant) and only four have played more than 30 (Kohli, Ashwin, Vijay, and Pujara), that is not a small challenge. Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be presented with the familiar vulnerability of Asian teams - winning outside the subcontinent, the former in NZ and Australia, and the latter in South Africa. The summer has belonged to them but the winter will tell us what these teams are truly made of.
Sportspersons are constantly challenged in having to live out of hotel rooms and away from friends and family for long periods of time. And for this Pakistan team, the burden has been manifold given the inability to play even their own domestic T20 league at home, let alone international cricket. Not for a month, or a year but for nearly seven years now. That needs a huge degree of mental toughness especially for the younger players, not to say adjusting to non-home conditions. Coupled with that toughness, the other quality that this team has displayed unlike some of their predecessors is one of resilience and the ability to hang in there and fight back. As Hassan Cheema put it (much more eloquently than I can hope to), Misbah and Younis have moulded a team in their image and no praise is high enough. The best captain and best batsman (arguable both but I'd be willing to make a case) that Pakistan have had in Test cricket deserve the #1 ranking before they exit the game sometime soon. Amongst all Asian captains (who have skippered their side in more than 25 Tests), Misbah's win-loss ratio puts him ahead of all comers other than Miandad and Imran. That's ahead of acclaimed captains like Dhoni, Ganguly, Jayawardene, and Ranatunga. And barring Younis Khan, he's not had access to any all-time Pakistan greats of the likes of Wasim, Waqar, Qadir, Saleem Malik, Saqlain Mushtaq, Zaheer Abbas, and many more. Granted he's only played two matches against Australia and none against India but that's still one heck of a record. And amongst all Asian batsmen (with more than 3000 runs), Younis' average of 53.72 puts him ahead of any of his countrymen and only just behind Tendulkar and Sangakkara. Not bad for someone who's still made fun of after every couple of failures. He's also the only Pakistani to score more than 25 Test match hundreds and assuming he carries on for the tours of NZ and Australia will likely become the first batsman from his nation to go past the 10,000 run mark.
Asian success as a whole in Test cricket has been the story of this summer. Pakistan have grabbed many of the headlines given their ascent to #1 but Sri Lanka's whitewash of Australia, and India's performance in the West Indies are no less noteworthy. The Lankans spectacularly turned around a summer (and year) that had been disastrous up to then with their mauling of Smith and his (erstwhile) #1 team. And very hearteningly they did this on the back of nearly everyone in the team contributing at different stages of the matches. At the start of the tour, Mathews, Herath, and Chandimal were the only certain starters in their XI but by the finish they'd uncovered a potential world-beater of a batsman in Kusal Mendis, and a few other solid cricketers in Dilruwan Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Lakshan Sandakan, and a resurgent Kaushal Silva. They've been in transition for a long time now, but seem to finally be turning a corner and that can only be good for Test cricket.
India's win in the Caribbean was only the fifth time that they won two or more Tests in a series outside the subcontinent. And one of the earlier four was a 2-3 loss to a Packer ravaged Australian team, and one was in Zimbabwe (ie effectively doesn't count). The fact that something this rare will ultimately be considered slightly disappointing is a measure of both how quickly Kohli's young team has gelled and also how far the men in maroon have fallen. A lot of my pre-series questions have been answered (at least in my head) with the main outstanding one being whether Pujara or Rohit Sharma should be first choice. To me it feels like Rohit is the obvious answer but clearly many others think differently. 13 Test matches should certainly be enough to find the answer.
Tougher assignments loom ahead for all three teams. India have their longest home season ever and anything less than victory in 9-10 of the 13 Tests and in all four series will be viewed as a disappointment. For a team where only one player has played more than 50 Tests (Ishant) and only four have played more than 30 (Kohli, Ashwin, Vijay, and Pujara), that is not a small challenge. Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be presented with the familiar vulnerability of Asian teams - winning outside the subcontinent, the former in NZ and Australia, and the latter in South Africa. The summer has belonged to them but the winter will tell us what these teams are truly made of.
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