Misbah-Afridi captaincy debate: Have Pakistan ever appeared ready ahead of a World Cup?

Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi: The captaincy debate before the World Cup surfaces again

Considering cricket’s relatively small pool, it is intriguing the amount of news that emanates from Pakistan for its deeds on the field and antics off it. Perhaps the element of surprise has long disappeared owing to its frequency — and each report that filters out highlights the fact that the state of affairs has remained largely unchanged — but the interest and exhaustion it generates, among neutral observers and Pakistani supporters respectively, has seldom dipped.

The Misbah vs Afridi debate

Latest in the series is the issue of captaincy just months before the World Cup’s scheduled commencement, this surfacing after Pakistan faced four consecutive limited-overs defeats at the hands of Australia the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Having lost the two One-Day Internationals (ODIs) with significant margins under Misbah-ul-Haq’s leadership, Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi took over but failed to eke out a win in the final ODI as well. The defeats were followed by comments from Afridi to ESPNCricinfo, stating “Every captain has his own approach and I can't be Misbah and Misbah can't be Afridi,” before conceding to a larger press that “I think whoever is captain [for the ODIs], Misbah or me, we should know about it. If I am to captain in the World Cup then I should know about it.”

The statements, understandably, didn’t go down well with Pakistan Cricket Board’s current head honchos, for Misbah had voluntarily stepped aside for the final game and was still the board’s first choice to skipper the team, and their disappointment was duly conveyed to Afridi. This has also thrown up a question which appears to be quite characteristic every four years: Considering the lack of clarity, and the perennial internal turmoil, is Pakistan ready for the World Cup Down Under?

Pakistan’s troublesome past before World Cups

The above query can be countered as follows: Since the last one-and-a-half decade, have Pakistan ever experienced a stable, settled phase before the World Cup? Unfortunately, the answer to that is no. And the conundrums that have come to the fore now are the ones that have stifled Pakistan previously as well. Dirty laundry has been relentlessly washed in the public, yet it hasn’t prevented them from surging into the semi-final and final of the coveted tournament since 1999, although a plethora of troubles has also ensured they made a first round exit on the other two counts. The issues, though, have been somewhat similar since then ahead of every World Cup.

Just a month before the 1999 World Cup was set to begin in England and Scotland, Javed Miandad stepped down as the head coach of the team, citing family commitments. The move took most by surprise, although the powers that be and Wasim Akram, the captain at the time, quietly accepted Miandad’s resignation. The reports that later trickled through suggested different reasons.

Apparently, a rift had developed between Miandad and some senior players, for the former had accused them of throwing a match against England at UAE. It is said that the crevices between the two parties widened three months earlier since the time Miandad made public his fears about match-fixing within the team. Nonetheless, Pakistan made the final, riding on their good form that season.

Prior to the 2003 World Cup held primarily in South Africa, there was a divide in the administration pertaining to the post of captaincy. While some backed Waqar Younis, most reckoned Wasim Akram would be the right candidate to lead Pakistan’s charge. The indecisiveness, it is said, prevented a formidable side from taking the field, and Zahid Ali Akbar — the Lieutenant-General who was chairman of the PCB during Pakistan’s victorious 1992 World Cup campaign — openly blamed the board’s absurd policies for a poor build up to the tournament.

The administrators put off announcing the squad for the tournament until its final weeks, which led Akbar to severely criticise them. According to the Dawn, in the December of 2002, Akbar blamed the PCB for shaking the “the confidence of world-class players the calibre of Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar and Saqlain Mushtaq due to wrong planning.” The Pakistanis were knocked out in the initial rounds of the tournament.

In 2007, the World Cup at Caribbean saw a Pakistani side that its supporters most feared would turn up. Blasted in the media for their lack of professionalism and the way they’d taken their fitness for granted — a conclusion deduced from watching the team’s performance in the ODI against South Africa before the main tournament began — Pakistan lost to Ireland before their coach Bob Woolmer died under mysterious circumstances. They were sent packing in the first round for the second time in a row.

Four years later, in 2011, what transpired may perhaps instil a sense of déjà vu this time around. The World Cup was scheduled to be held in the Indian sub-continent, and Pakistan were the only country among the all the contesting nations who did not announce the captain when they named their 15-man squad a month before the commencement. The men touted for the mantle at the time were — you guessed it — Misbah and Afridi, with the latter eventually bagging it. Misbah was named the vice-captain of the squad. Despite the flurry of unpleasant events — ranging from the spot-fixing controversy to debate in captaincy — Pakistan reached the semi-final, where they were knocked out by India.

What will it be this time around?

As we approach the 2015 World Cup, the same niggles continue to haunt Pakistan. To worsen matters, they’re devoid of their best spinner, their batting ammunition is depleted and the order haphazard. Pundits state that unlike previously, their reserves now run dry.

“Time was when unknown young men would come out of nowhere to don the Pakistan colours and blossom into the likes of Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram, Shahid Afridi, and Mohammad Yousuf, to name a few. Those times are now history,” wrote Saad Shafqat last October.

Can Pakistan still reach the final stages Down Under, or is another quick exit awaiting them?