Golden eras are not as marvellous as they are deemed. They are but a fleeting instant of glory, sandwiched between the darkest times. For Pakistan cricket, Misbah ul Haq wielding the test mace in his hands was the image of a golden period that succeeded a dark and ominous era of spot-fixing and its horrific consequences. The subsequent years to the Misbah-inspired heydey did not possess the same stain as the era before it, but there were still a few could-have-been that coerced the team to get lesser than the potential they had.
The news of Asad Shafiq’s retirement rekindles the memory of one of these underachievements, of failing to imitate his departed predecessors. And finishing with figures that may act as red-herring for someone attempting to compile a list of the most classy lower-order batters.
Sheer dominance at the number six position
Shafiq, in most of his outings, stayed to bat deep down the order. The number six position was his backyard. An interesting record held by him is that no batter has more centuries batting at this position than him. None, sir. Not even Garfield Sobers himself. He held the fort at the end batting with the tail, mostly to save the game. Here he was the most audacious, so much so that he once went on a solo voyage to conquer the Gabbatoir, batting calmly as was the zeitgeist of the boys of Misbah. Asad’s 137-run knock would have broken Australia’s then 28-year-old record years before Rishabh Pant did, had a diabolical edge off a Mitchell Starc Jaffa, not forced him to walk back.
Only one of his numerous rescue efforts was chronicled at Gabba. What rendered him the most appealing and the preferred choice number 6 batter was his proficiency in piling runs away from home. Especially in conditions not usually favourable for the batters. His 111 runs inning at Cape Town against a prime South Africa bowling attack in 2013 stands as a testament to his ability to defy seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
For Pakistan, he was as dependable an option as it gets. Evidence of this could be explored by finding him sitting at the top of the list of Test cricketers for Pakistan who played maximum consistent Test matches. His streak extended to 72 Test matches out of the 77 games he played from his debut until 2020 – the year he last played a Test match.
Life after the MisYou brilliance
He and Azhar Ali were counted as the scions of Misbah ul Haq and Younis Khan, to guide a relatively young team in the most pure and challenging format of the game. The 37-year-old had to fill the big shoes of his fellow teammates who rescued the team in Test cricket from the quagmire of scandals and defamation. Shafiq, however, failed to up his tempo after the MisYou departure. His average once dwelling in the mid-40s, declined to 35 after the retirement of the aforementioned players. 35 is not an average you get axed from the team for. It’s probably the sort of average that licenses a player to use the excuse of suffering from a ‘lean patch’. However, his case was different. The team did not need him for merely staying at the end and scoring an odd fifty here or there.
It was his time to bear the torch for the youngsters around him and execute all the trade he learned as an apprentice from the masters of old themselves.
Dropping Shafiq from the team
Pakistan’s tour of England in 2022 summers was the last time Shafiq played in white for the team as his average fell to 28 in the last nine innings. Taking cues from unwelcoming omens, the selectors had already reintroduced Mohammad Rizwan into the team, placing him at no. 7 the previous year. The step was made to ensure the team had a contingency in case Shafiq’s form refused to improve, leading to what seemed like an inevitable ousting and fortifying the lower order of the team. Rizwan stopped at nothing after that, making life more taxing for Asad. Finally what once felt impossible was ordered to happen and Fawad Alam was called in to replace the right-hander batter.
Asad Shafiq’s retirement plans
Asad Shafiq’s retirement is staggering since just in July this year the right-hander was hoping to get lucky enough to get a Pakistan call-up. In five months he has not only relinquished that hope but has also declared that he no longer harbors the passion to play cricket.
“I’m no longer feeling that excitement and passion that I did when I first started playing the game. Before the start of this season, I had decided this would be my last season because I felt that closing in on 38 years of age this was time to retire instead of people telling me to step down,” Shafiq said.
The news of his joining the Selection Committee of the Pakistan Cricket Team has yet to be released officially but Wahab Riaz recently announced that he will soon be seen as part of the Selection team. With the announcement of Shafiq’s retirement, the last calm and classy relic of Misbah’s Test team has bid adieu to the sport they once dominated. As much as the right-handed batter was known for his elegance, he loved showcasing his strokeplay in the face of challenges, maintaining a calm demeanour that would further frustrate the bowler.
Also read: https://greenteam1992.com/pakistans-failures-in-australian-tours/
