Misbah didn't really play that bad

[Blaze 18]

Look at the partnerships he had though, Younis, Razzaq were bigger culprits for strike rate. Umar Akmal was doing well - and getting enough of the strike - was just fooled by a variation and certainly Pakistan were very much in the game with little run rate pressure till just before that delivery. Perhaps only Afridi might have felt run rate pressure, but you couldn't tell if that altered his style of batting.

He didn't have a great day for sure. But the main story that innings (except Hafeez) was Indians bowling their opponents out at very regular intervals to good bowling.

If you have th blame Misbah, that catch of Tendulkar was probably a bigger miss on his part

The thing is it's difficult to quantify what effect exactly Misbah's innings had on the others. When your mind is free and there's no (RR) pressure, you tend to play the good balls better. It's possible that I'm being too pedantic, but I'd wager that the undue pressure had a role to play in at least two of the wickets that fell. And even if Umar Akmal hadn't got out to Harbhajan Singh, he would have likely got out sooner or later after skying one. Because of the pressure that was put on him by Misbah's inability to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

Have a look at this :

Misbah's mystery innings
Misbah-ul-Haq's strike rate at the end of his innings was 73.68; Tendulkar's rate for his 85 was 73.91. That, perhaps, is as good an example as any to illustrate the fact that stats without context is meaningless. Misbah's inexplicable go-slow through the first half of his innings resulted in the asking rate climbing to unmanageable proportions, and it also forced the other batsmen to take risks that might otherwise have been unnecessary. He tried to make up for it later, but apart from helping him reach a personal landmark and improving his strike-rate, his late hits counted for little.

Overall, Misbah played out 42 dot balls, which was the most among Pakistan's batsmen. In his first 42 balls, he scored only 17 and played 27 dots. During this period, Pakistan's asking rate went up from 6.07 to 8.45. Younis Khan's sluggish innings didn't help either - add his 13 from 32 balls to Misbah's 17 in his first 42, and Pakistan have every reason to feel their two most experienced batsmen didn't serve them well: in those 74 balls, the two batsmen got a grand total of 30 runs, with no boundaries. Even with the power-hitters to follow, that was a bridge too far.

India v Pakistan: The crucial first 15 overs, and mysterious Misbah-ul-Haq | Cricket Features | ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 | ESPN Cricinfo

I would agree that he wasn't the sole reason for defeat, as is being suggested by some. Younis Khan and Mohammad Hafeez also deserve criticism.

All said and done, I am very happy Misbah played the way he did.

 

[Xuhaib]

Pakistan needed 120 off 100 or something when Umar got out, and that was after he'd slogged 29(24).

bit harsh to call it a slog was probably the innings of the game along with Sehwag's 38.

 

[Xuhaib]

yeah Razzaq over Afridi was a decent decision but Razzaq never looked like scoring a run through out his stsay at the crease was not surprised when he got out

 

[Blaze 18]

Razzaq batting ahead of Afridi was fair enough. I believe there was quite a lot of pressure on Afridi to bat below Razzaq after the Australia game.

 

[Furball]

Look at the partnerships he had though, Younis, Razzaq were bigger culprits for strike rate. Umar Akmal was doing well - and getting enough of the strike - was just fooled by a variation and certainly Pakistan were very much in the game with little run rate pressure till just before that delivery. Perhaps only Afridi might have felt run rate pressure, but you couldn't tell if that altered his style of batting.

He didn't have a great day for sure. But the main story that innings (except Hafeez) was Indians bowling their opponents out at very regular intervals to good bowling.

If you have th blame Misbah, that catch of Tendulkar was probably a bigger miss on his part

Umar Akmal was under pressure to really make the most of the strike he got because Misbah decided that he was batting for lunch at the other end.

 

[salman85]

Misbah is the 3rd greatest thing since sliced bread.

The first being Imran Khan.

The 2nd being Afridi.

 

[vcs]

bit harsh to call it a slog was probably the innings of the game along with Sehwag's 38.

No, I didn't mean to degrade his innings, played some wonderful shots on a sluggish wicket where it was tough to get spinners away.

Basically, my point of view on this is the same as Blaze and GF's.

 

[jeevan]

Umar Akmal was under pressure to really make the most of the strike he got because Misbah decided that he was batting for lunch at the other end.

Well here's how I recall Umar's brief innings unfolding:

When he came on, Misbah himself had been in for just a few delivers (1 run off 3 balls, looking it up). Half way through Umar Akmal's innings, they were:


Misbah-ul-Haq 7* (12b)
Umar Akmal 18* (17b 1x4 1x6)

and at one end Nehra & Munaf were clamping down both batsmen (yes, Umar too played a few dot balls in a row and never got more than a single against those two). and at the other end Yuvraj was bowling mostly to Umar, who was taking him to the cleaners - 21 runs in 2 overs. Of course Yuvi was replaced by Harbhajan, who completely beat Umar first ball - not getting out to a slog or a risky shot, just didnt have a clue what Harbhajan had just bowled (a faster arm ball). Oh yeah, there were drinks right before Harbhajan came to bowl too...

Then Razzaq & Afridi too were not able to score against the seamers (Zaheer was brought on for Afridi). Yeah statistics don't tell the story - NOBODY in the Pakistani line up was scoring against the seamers (Nehra, then Patel, then Zaheer) in that passage of play from Umar Akmal coming in and Afridi getting out in which 3 wickets were lost and which basically turned the match from being in balance to decided.

Against the spinners, in that same period Misbah was 15 runs from 19 balls.In those 7 overs from Nehra+Patel+Zaheer there were no boundaries and only one ball went for 2 runs and those overs went for 19 runs total.

 

[vcs]

Interesting, while we were all repeating the cliche about Pakistan not being able to rotate strike against spinners, it seems it was the fast bowlers they were struggling to get away. Shows what I know.

 

[Xuhaib]

yeah don't think Misbah should be help responsible for Umer's wicket the idea was right trying to milk an off spinner on the leg side got done by a skidder happens its cricket.Misbah direness was after Umer's wicket he was relativley in when Umer went should have just upped his s/r which would have allowed the new batsman to get in.

 

[deeps]

Misbah was half doing the right thing. Yes, he was meant to play the anchor, whilst the others scored around him. HOWEVER, he did NOT take singles/rotate the strike, which meant he played out FAR too many dot balls.

If he was taking singles, and giving the strike to the likes of Akmal, Razzaq and Afridi, it would have been a totally different game. Instead, these guys were getting 2 balls an over to score 6-8 runs.