'I could turn bad times into good times'

Dubbed the most successful Pakistan captain, Misbah-ul-Haq is also known for his unflappable temperament. Under his captaincy, Pakistan was lifted from the depths of the spot-fixing saga in England in 2010. This time Misbah came to Bangladesh to play matches in BPL for Chittagong Vikings. On 1 December, at the BCB Academy grounds, Misbah talked to Prothom Alo about his international career which he left last May.   

Prothom Alo: What is your post retirement plan?

Misbah-ul-Haq: I still I have to play PSL (Pakistan Super League).  So may be after that I will keep playing a little bit, but not much, and see where I go from there. Maybe a little bit of broadcasting, a little bit of coaching, but not full time.

PA: Still playing at 43, what’s the mystery behind it?

Misbah: It’s all about continuity and consistently and working hard on your fitness. That’s what I’m doing at the moment. Enjoying cricket. Obviously it’s difficult to leave cricket suddenly. I’m just continuing it a bit. First I left T-20, then One Day, and then test cricket.

PA: You grew up in a land (Mianwali, Punjab, Pakistan) where hardly anyone dreamed of being a professional cricketer. How did you inspire to become a cricketer?

Misbah: Actually I used to play many sports. I always loved to play cricket, football and hockey. I used to play cricket with a tennis ball, not a cricket ball. After the 1992 World Cup I started playing cricket with a cricket ball. I was inspired by that World Cup which was won by Pakistan and I started playing cricket.

PA: You were not regular in the beginning of your career. What helped you keep patient for so long?

Misbah: I think it’s all about your passion. The kind of passion I had for cricket just keep me going. Till the age of almost 43, there was a lot of ups and downs but I think passion just keep me running.

 PA: What was major challenge, when you got captaincy?

Misbah: Yeah, it was tough. The team was in difficult times, after 2010 what happened in England. Players got banned and we were not doing well at that time. There was a lot of controversy and I was out at that time. My own performance as a player, as a batsman, was not up to the mark. So it was a challenge for me to come and prove myself as a player. Not only as a player but also as a captain. The first challenge was prove myself as a player, as a batsman. So Alhamdulillah, I just got through that. Once I started scoring runs and that become easy for me to captain the side.

PA: You have been tagged 'Tuk Tuk' but equalled the fastest test century with Viv Richards. When people considered you too sombre, you showed a different side by doing push-ups after a hundred at Lords. Isn’t this a bit of a paradox?

Misbah: I think whenever you are in difficult times it’s a challenge for you. It’s also an opportunity for you as a player, as a human being. You just come back harder, come at the top. That’s the challenge and if you want to take that you are more determined. I think that determination helped me those time. The team was just down, as a player and I was down and I just kept on believing in myself and kept working hard. I could do this andso the situation turned into good one. This positive thinking helped me.

PA: Not playing at home but the most successful captain of Pakistan. How was this possible?

Misbah: Its always what you think. It doesn’t matter if you are not playing at home. But in terms of playing against any opposition, the conditions are same for both the teams. I think the UAE conditions are more like Pakistan. That helped us and we were determined to do well as a team. That helped us to win games. We wanted to prove ourselves as a team. So the credit goes to everyone. Everyone worked hard and won a lot of games. We just became No. 1 in world at that time.

PA: Despite doing good, you got criticised from media, you and former players. Then how did you motivate yourself?

Misbah: You can't just let others opinion affect you. You need to know yourself, what is right, what is wrong. You can analyse your performance, you can analyse yourself. Then you don’t worry about what the people are saying. You need to improve yourself there. If somebody said something just for the sake of criticism, I think you should not worry about that.

PA: Would you share a few memorable and disappointing incidents over your career?

Misbah: Winning the Lords test in 2016, on 14 August 2016 winning the Oval Test, always something memorable. And scoring a hundred at Lords, that is something special for me. Disappointing things? There are a lot of things, especially the 2011 World Cup lost to India. That was a great disappointment. We could have won it. Then in 2015 we lost the game in the quarter final also. It is always a dream to win, to be a part of the wining team especially this sort of tournament, basically in World Cup.