Daily Times

Servants of Pakistan cricket – Misbahul Haq and Younus Khan – bowed out in a blaze of glory when Pakistan scored their first ever Test series victory in the Caribbean by outplaying West Indies in the thrilling third and final Test in Dominica on Sunday. This side had done what Hanif Mohammad, Javed Miandad and Imran Khan couldn’t do. No doubt, Team Pakistan gave the veteran duo a perfect retirement gift. Pakistan won the match by 101 runs to seal the series 2-1. The win was Pakistan’s 26th under the 42-year-old Misbah, who also led the side to the top of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Rankings last year.

A valiant, unbeaten century by Roston Chase almost staved off defeat for West Indies, who were all out for 202 in their second innings with only one over remaining at Windsor Park in Roseau. Chase and the West Indies tail made the Pakistan bowlers sweat after the visitors took the new ball with 17 overs remaining, still needing two more wickets. With a draw tantalizingly close, West Indies number 11 Shannon Gabriel was bowled by man of the series legspinner Yasir Shah on the final ball of the penultimate over. Had Gabriel, who stoutly defended 21 deliveries before his rush of blood, survived the ball, Chase would have had strike for the final over and a draw would have been on the cards. Chase ended 101 not out.

With this scintillating triumph, Misbah has become the first Asian captain to win three Tests in West Indies. He won one Test in 2011 series and two Tests in 2017 series. India’s Virat Kohli won two Tests when India toured West Indies last year. No other Asian captain have been able to win more than one Test on West Indian soil. This has also been Misbah’s 11th series win, the most by an Asian captain. Indian Saurav Ganguly and MS Dhoni have won nine series each.

As Younus, Pakistan’s most prolific Test run-scorer, and Misbah, the country’s most successful captain, head off into the sunset after long and memorable careers, Pakistan begins a tricky period of transition looking for a new wave of players ready to fill a huge void left by the retired batting greats. Younus and Misbah have been the pillars of Pakistan’s batting lineup for over a decade and it could take quite some time for the country to find anyone capable of matching their feats. Pakistan’s situation mirrors the dilemma South Asian rivals Sri Lanka faced when batting mainstays Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene ended their international careers two years ago.

Misbah has been the bedrock of many a Pakistan innings, time and time again extricating his team from difficult situations with a terrific temperament. While Younus has been one of Pakistan’s finest batsmen, also often coming up with his best efforts when the chips were down. A triple-century in Tests at home against Sri Lanka and a double-century in a series-levelling effort in India are just a couple of the performances that have placed him in a league above the rest. Despite leading Pakistan to the World Twenty20 title in 2009, Younus’ experience with the captaincy had been difficult. He turned it down first in 2007, having been groomed for it. When he resigned in 2009, it was under the weight of, effectively, a player revolt. His career was spent overcoming challenges that threatened to overwhelm him, but he kept on sparkling with his unbiased, loyal and honest performance. His feats have established him as, arguably, Pakistan’s greatest Test batsman and one of the finest from anywhere in the modern age.

Pakistan have coped with their absence in the shorter formats since 2015 but the challenge of white-ball cricket is completely different to the patience and technique required in the red-ball arena. The onus is now on the likes of Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam and Sarfraz Ahmad to step up and fill the void. When two Pakistan greats Inzamamul Haq and Mohammad Yousuf left the scene, Younus and Misbah tried to fill that gap. Azhar, Asad, Babar, Fawad and Sarfraz have the potential to take ownership of the Test side. Every team go though transition periods and Pakistan are no different.

Since his 2001 Test debut in New Zealand, Misbah accumulated 5,222 runs in 75 matches at an average higher than 46. Always admired for his unflappable temperament in a dressing room replete with mercurial talent, Misbah was handed the Test captaincy after a 2010 spot-fixing scandal in England led to the expulsion of his predecessor Salman Butt. If Misbah represented the voice of reason in both the dressing room and out on the field, Younus let his bat do the talking and is currently the only Pakistan players to have joined the coveted 10,000 Test-run club. The former captain tallied 10,099 runs in 118 Tests, embellishing his legacy with 34 hundreds at an average of more than 52.

During their engrossing careers, both players made and broke innumerable records; serving the country at a time when cricket in Pakistan suffered one set back after the other. The exits of Younus and Misbah will cost the Pakistan team more than 190 matches worth of experience. The pair have formed the nucleus of Pakistan’s batting in the last seven years. Many are asking how Pakistan would cope with Younus and Misbah leaving at the same time, but life never stops for anyone, it needs to move on. During their illustrious careers, Younus and Misbah have shown to all and sundry that it isn’t enough to be talented. If you want to make it to the top, to be the best you can, to get the most out of yourself, you have to work hard, harder than you ever have before, harder than anyone else. The duo have ended their careers at a point where if someone asks who were the best Test players for Pakistan, the answer is Younus and Misbah.