Notes

Neither Azhar Ali nor Asad Shafiq or Younis Khan are as good ODI or limited over players as Misbah ul Haq

Azhar Ali is marginally a better test batsman than Misbah ul Haq given he bats in a harder position and has played 6 test matches in England as well with pretty decent success

Younis Khan obviously is a more accomplished test batsman than Misbah

However, in 50 over cricket Misbah is more versatile, busy at the crease, has a stronger record and has a wider range of strokes in his repertoire than those mentioned while being able to hold the innings together and keep his wicket at the same time. He is the best of the lot at playing the holding role, without being overly cautious and having the ability to show a different side to his game as well.

Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq are both automatic starters in the test XI and the best young-ish batsmen to have emerged from Pakistan in the last decade in terms of their long format credentials where ultimately you judge the metal and quality of an individual player in the premier form of the game. Both have been permanent members of the side who have consistently made strong scores and played lengthy innings, often in challenging situations.

Temperamentally Misbah and Azhar are stronger than Asad and Younis.

Technically Younis and Azhar are better equipped than Misbah and Asad.

In terms of grace and elegance, Asad tops the list.

In terms of best all-round record and proven credentials across the 3 different formats, Misbah stands out.

All are very capable fielders and catchers.

Younis and Misbah both captained Pakistan, although Misbah has achieved much more as captain and has captained for significantly longer and generally was undoubtedly the better in terms of results, stability, intellect, individual form, well roundedness.

Azhar and Asad have both been regarded as potential future leaders with areas of captaincy material in them.

Let Hafeez captain in 20 test matches in a wide range of conditions and 30 ODIs before saying he is a better captain than Misbah. You don’t become a top captain through Twenty20. Some newspaper experts are putting polls up about the better captain. Ill-logical. Hafeez might end up as a capable international captain, but he will have to captain out of his skins to match Misbah’s achievements which are vast, both in cleaning the culture of the team in deep adversity and leading his side to series wins, one after the other against some difficult preposition such as England, Sri Lanka and India in different forms of the great game.