In October 2010, Pakistan’s cricketing fortunes plunged deep into darkness that can be only summed as the sporting version of a Black Hole. They had suffered a heavy 3-1 test series defeat on the field in England and off it had three players         ( Mohammad Aamir , Salman Butt , Mohammad Asif ) being banned for spot fixing charges. This on top of the fact they were forced to play cricket away from home following the Lahore debacle of 2009 with Sri Lankan team.It was not a good time to be a fan of the Cornered Tigers.

As the obvious change in the captaincy occurred, came a player who had not always been held in high regard in Pakistan’s cricketing circles . Misbah ul Haq Khan Niazi was infamous because of his 2007 World Cup T20 final at Johannesburg against India where he had played a scoop shot that had clinched defeat from a possible chance of a win. This was on his return to mainstream cricket after 4 years . On his second return in 2010, at 37, he was made in charge of a side who might have lost its bowling punchline a few months before the  2011 World Cup. They faced a formidable South African test squad and managed to hold them to two dull draws.

As he progressed in his captaincy, he became renowned for his slow batting after the fall of early wickets typical of a Pakistan top order performance. The famous 2011 World Cup semifinal at Mohali was another dark spot in his CV, with the loss again primarily blamed at his rate of run making. However he continued to take on the barrage of criticism, an offshoot of which was a nickname called Tuk Tuk . It meant slow tapping of the ball without any run accumulation. Despite that ,he managed a successful streak in tests . This culminated in a famous whitewash of 2012 in the Gulf against the Poms 3-0 which began to strengthen his cause. He went on to in lead to an Asia cup win the same year and later on to a victorious Indian ODI  tour.Things were looking a bit brighter for Tuk Tuk.

Although he lost 3-0 in South Africa , the return leg in the fall was drawn in the Gulf 1-1.12 months later he led a famous 2-0 drubbing of the Aussies . This was Pakistan s first test win since 1995 and eventually a series since 1988 against the Kangaroos . Misbah in the 2nd innings of the Abu Dhabi went into AB Devilliers mode  and clubbed the fastest test 100 in 56 balls, a record he tied with the legendary  Vivian Richards. This followed a first innings of 101. Misbah had tied the legendary skippers Imran Khan and Javed Miandad at 14 test wins. He went on to break that record on the same ground versus Kiwis following a third straight 100.

2015 might have signalled the end of his ODI career during the World Cup but his test wins continued. The Greenshirts won in Bangladesh at Mirpur where he hit 82. A few months later, they won a series against Sri Lanka at Pallekele , a 1st for 9 years. The winning runs were achieved in his stand with Younus Khan in a monumental run chase scoring 382.  As one of the most closest series played this year against England concluded with a 2-0 win at the historic Sharjah stadium which has been a site for their previous one day successes, Pakistan rose to No 2 in the rankings. He again had a match winning 102 at Dubai and innings saving 71 in the 1st inning of the final test at Sharjah .

There was talk of retirement looming as the series against England began but now the PCB and most of his cricket fans possibly think otherwise considering the difficult tour of the UK expected next year to be anything but a walk in the park. It was a tightly contested series despite the end results with spin dominating. Misbah ended with 352 runs in the  series behind only to Mohammad Hafeez and the England skipper Alistair Cook.

Forgiveness is hard to achieve in Pakistani cricketing folklore. Although played only 61 tests, he has taken a long and weary journey at the age of 41 to convince many that he can be remembered that what he did In the past didn’t reply reflect the player he is. It might be boring at times and he might not attract the best of crowds considering the kind of young stroke players around and in an era of T20 cricket , but he does play solidly and puts an enormous price to his wicket. And in a series which commended Younus Khan for becoming his team’s highest test runs scorer ever, Misbah now can rule the roost at 20 test captain wins, a record that will stay for some time.

As a well groomed and a learned individual from Mianwali, he had an arduous task cleaning up that mess of 2010. His calmness and control prevailed. In five years and 42 tests at the helm, he finally managed to change the outlook of Pakistan cricket at test level, something many struggled to do before him.Maybe his future following cricket might be more forgiving than the path he took towards achieving this success.