Pakistani Legend Misbah Ul Haq

 Misbah Ul Haq is Pakistan's most successful test captain with 26 test wins. He is way ahead of Imran Khan in terms of test wins who is second on the list of most successful Pakistani test captains with 14 wins but on the otherhand Misbah ul Haq has also led Pakistan to most lost matches with 19 losses. Misbah maybe Pakistan's most successful test captain but he wasnt as successful ODI captain as Imran Khan and is often said Misbah's ODI captaincy as old fashioned and he followed old tactics that Pakistan used to follow in the 1980's and 1990's. Misbah ul Haq was following Pakistan's ancient tactics of the 1992 World Cup in the ODI format of the game. The tactics which were followed by Misbah ul Haq included preserving wickets at the start of the innings until the 35th over and then trying to increase the run rate by going for long and big hits in the last fifteen overs in the innings. All those tactics were followed by cricket teams in the 1980's and 1990's in ODI cricket but modern day tactics are different. 

In modern day cricket especially in ODI cricket you need to improvise and play innovative cricket by increasing the run rate throughout the fifty overs by playing shots all round the ground in all 360 degrees direction. On the otherhand Misbah uL Haq followed Imran Khan's tactics of 1992 world cup until he retired after the 2015 World Cup in Australia in ODI cricket. This is the reason why Misbah ul Haq wasnt  as successful ODI captain as much as he was a successful test captain. As a test captain he was as master tactician as Imran Khan and led Pakistan to a lot of test wins.

As a player he started his career late and made his test debut in 2001 tour of New Zealand. Then he failed to impress not only the selectors but also any Pakistani fan. His selection was mainly stopped due to the presence of Inzamam and Yousuf in the team. When Inzamam retired in 2007 Misbah ul Haq finally made it into the Pakistani team. His style of batting was often regarded as defensive but he could hit the ball a long way if the situation demanded big hits.

In 2017 Misbah ul Haq retired from all forms of international cricket after leading Pakistan to a historic test series win 2-1 against West Indies. Misbah Ul Haq will always be remembered in the history of Pakistani cricket as the most successful Pakistan test captain.

Pakistani Legend Shahid Afridi

No Pakistani cricketer was as attractive, crowd pleasing, enigmatic and charismatic as Shahid Khan Afridi. This Pakistani legend in only his second one day international scored the fastest century off only 37 deliveries against Sri Lanka in a four nation ODI tournament in Nairobi,Kenya in 1996. This record was a world record for many years in One Day International cricket until it was beaten by Corey Anderson of New Zealand against a weak West Indies team. Shahid Afridi was not only a very hard hitting batsman but a very skilful spin bowler too. As a bowler Shahid Afridi had a great leg break, a very effective googly, a top spinner and a quicker delivery which used to surprise many great batsmen. Shahid Afridi had all those variations as a leg spin bowler.

The tournament which really made Shahid Afridi a hero was the Carlton and United Series in Australia in 1996/1997. Shahid Afridi proved himself to be a match winning all rounder in that tournament making Man of the match performances in the finals of that tournament against West Indies. Shahid Afridi's clean bowled of Greg Blewett in a match against Australia in that tournament in Adelaide of a fast inswinging delivery brought him instant fame and was very memorable indeed. Pakistan's triumph in that tournament was Pakistan's only victory in so many triangular World Series Cup tournaments in Australia and Shahid Afridi played a key role in that victorious tournament for Pakistan. Wasim Akram was Pakistan's captain in that tournament.

In test cricket Shahid Afridi who although made a very successful test debut against Australia and made quite a memorable performances like his knock against India of 141 in the Chennai test in 1999 never regarded himself as a test cricketer. That's the reason why he abruptly retired in test cricket in 2010. Although as an ODI cricketer and as a Twenty20 cricketer he had quite a career. In Twenty20 cricket he played a key role in Pakistan's ICC WorldTwenty20 title in 2009. In ODI cricket his consecutive sixes off Ravichandran Ashwin which won a thriller against India in Asia Cup in 2014 made him a hero in Pakistani cricket. That sixes of Afridi was a big gift for Pakistan as Pakistani rarely win against India nowadays.

In 2016 after leading Pakistan to a disastrous World Twenty20 campaign in India, Shahid Afridi retired from all forms of cricket and that was an end of an era. Shahid Afridi will always be remembered for his hard hitting batting, his style of play and for his variations in bowling which was innovative and trend setting.