Is Misbah-ul-Haq Pakistan's greatest captain?

Since the turn of the century, there have been some brilliant moments in cricket. Most of them have been captured perfectly such as former India captain MS Dhoni's six of Nuwan Kulasekara during the final of the 2011 World Cup or the Indian Team giving Sachin Tendulkar a piggy back at the end of the same tournament. 

In the midst of celebration, there have also been heartbreaks such as when Andrew Flintoff rushing up to Brett Lee during the memorable second Ashes Test at Edgbaston in 2005. Or the moment when Pakistan's Misbah-Ul-Haq went on his knees when he realised that Pakistan had lost the inaugural ICC World T20 in South Africa. After hitting Joginder Sharma for a six of the second ball of the final over (the first one was a wide), Misbah then decided to play a scoop to seal the match for Pakistan. Unfortunately for him and his team, the shot was poorly timed and Sreesanth, who was at the third man boundary took a comfortable catch to give India the inaugural World T20 title. While all of India - myself included - were cheering, a number of cricket pundits recalled Misbah's shattered expression and that picture with his crestfallen face in the background while India celebrated was highlighted all over the cricketing world.

Fast forward to nine years later. Misbah, now captaining his national team, at 42 years of age, became the oldest captain to score a century. And he did it in style and at Lords, the Mecca of cricket. While most Pakistani batsmen would pray after their century, Misbah broke away from tradition and did 10 push-ups. Another moment that was spoken about all over the world. 

Between those two cricketing moments, Misbah-Ul-Haq has picked up a team that lacked direction and made it a competitive Test playing nation. True, Pakistan has been mercurial, but that's what is beautiful about their cricket. To the person that is a fan of the Pakistan team, these performances can be frustrating because on their day, that country's cricketers can compete with the best in the world. But when Pakistan is bad, they're awful.

There are several reasons to acknowledge Misbah's role in Pakistan's success in cricket in the past few years. To start with, he has never led his team in a home series. Ever since Sri Lanka's cricket team was attacked in Lahore in 2009, Pakistan hasn't technically played a home match. Their 'home' games have been played in neutral venues such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where it's usually difficult to find a packed stadium during a Test match. 

Despite these factors, and the lack of genuine match winners such as Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Inzamam Ul-Haq,  Waqar Younis, Saqulain Mushtaq, Mushtrq Ahmed and Abdur Razzak, just to name a few, Misbah has managed to get a team of talented individuals and make them work as a unit - something the Pakistan team lacked for a long time. Nobody since Imran Khan managed to get the best out of his players. He has been criticised about being too old to lead the team, but the question that immediately pops up is, "Who can lead Pakistan then?"

Misbah in my opinion may be a greater captain than Imran was because of two reasons. One, like mentioned earlier, he never had a home match, and two, he has never had a world-class player at the same level of what Imran and Wasim had.

When he retires after the West Indies series, the world of cricket would be saying goodbye to one of the more understated individuals in cricketing history. If fate isn't cruel, history will remember Misbah's contribution to cricket and not make him just another page in its glorious chapters.