End of the road for Misbah?
Former Pakistan cricket heavyweights on Saturday asked Misbahul Haq to call time on his illustrious career, blaming his poor batting and uninspired captaincy for a 3-0 whitewash to Australia.
Misbah capped a miserable series with a 220-run defeat in the third and final Test in Sydney on Saturday, his final score of 38 accounting for half of his entire run-tally (76).
It was Pakistan's fourth consecutive 3-0 whitewash in Australia since 1999, and their twelfth straight defeat.
After the loss Misbah said he would take his time to decide on the future -- a reversal of an announcement that he would quit following the defeat in the second match last week.
Since taking over the captaincy in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal in 2010, Misbah has led Pakistan in 53 Tests, winning 24 losing 18 and drawing 11.
He also briefly led his team to world number one Test rankings last year, despite playing no matches at home due to the prevailing insecurity. The feat earned him widespread acclaim throughout the cricketing world.
But former captain Ramiz Raja said it was now time for Misbah to move on.
"I think Misbah's time is up," he told AFP. "Every sportsman goes through this phase and captain Misbah has offered enough so it's time to move on.
"I think a captain can only give his best for five years and then his flow chart goes down.
"After that opponents know his strategies and Misbah has spent that in a glorious way. He has played his innings well to become Pakistan's most successful skipper," he added.
Raja's words were echoed by former paceman Wasim Akram.
"It's not my call but perhaps if I was in his place I would have quit at this point, having achieved so much," he told AFP.
"When I lost 3-0 in Australia in 1999 I was replaced as captain despite the fact we fought hard in the first two Tests -- but a defeat has such consequences," he added.
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