End of an era, end of a subculture

End of an era, end of a subculture

  

Pakistan will lose a whole lot of runs and experience when Misbah-ul-Haq and 

Younis Khan retire. Their biggest contribution, though, was the example they set,

showing young players what it meant to be professional sportsmen in Pakistan

Pakistan were blessed that two men as contrasting as Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq 

combined as coherently as peanut butter and jelly

Shan Masood was sitting next to Misbah-ul-Haq in the dressing room at the P
Sara Oval. It was the third day of the second Test and out in the middle, Ahmed Shehzad
and Azhar Ali were battling to salvage the mess they had contributed to in the first
innings, one that would eventually cost Pakistan the Test.Masood was caressing the
bruises that so many young Pakistan batsmen suffer early in their careers. He was
out of the Test XI, having been dropped three Tests after a 75 on debut against South
Africa. But he had worked his way closer, scoring runs in Sri Lanka on an A tour just
before this series and then in the warm-up game before the Tests. He had changed his
game,become more expansive, and felt he was hitting the ball better than ever.And now

here he was, on the inside but still far enough outside to require looking in. Two
Tests were gone and this could easily become another series he missed altogether,
and what was worse was that he wasn't actually playing at all, and thus not cashing
in on some good form. And next to him was sitting the man who would have
played a big part in the decision that was eating away at him.Misbah asked him
how old he was.Twenty-five."You know what I was doing when I was 25?" Masood
recalls Misbah saying. "I was graduating out of college and I hadn't played first-class
cricket. I started playing for Pakistan when I was 27. I played in Sharjah, got out on
a flat wicket to Brett Lee and Andy Bichel. You've already started your career, have
4000 runs at first-class level, made your debut against the world No. 1 side, you
scored 75 there, what are you worrying about? You have your best years ahead of you.
What are you worried about?""Maybe he's right," Masood thought.Masood was
pickedfor the next Test in Pallekele. Younis Khan - of whom Masood is fan, pupil,
mentee and friend - made sure that Masood's spot in the dressing room would be
right next to his own. Masood was leg-before in the first innings for 13, a call that
could have gone either way and made none the easier by the fact that he felt he was
batting well.Later in that innings, Younis called Masood over. A year earlier,
Masood had widened his stance on Younis' advice. Younis felt that Masood's
height necessitated a broader base.
Now in Pallekele, he reassured Masood that it was still a good idea but that he
had maybe gone a little too wide. Younis stressed that he could see Masood was
hitting the ball really well, and that he only really needed to make minor adjustments,
to stand a little more upright, be more open-chested, and it would be okay.In the
second innings, Masood scored his first - and so far only - Test hundred, setting
up Pakistan's highest-ever successful run chase. He made 125 out of 382 and
242 runs of the target were made in company withYounis.Masood is out of the 
side again currently. He may never have another Pallekele again, or become 
the Test opener Pakistan have craved for so long, but what a time to have been 
young and batting in the Pakistan side.