Misbah-ul-haq's colleagues from the time of his Test debut and what they are up to now

Misbah-ul-Haq is ready to hang up his boots today along with Younis Khan at Dominica as Pakistan face West Indies in an enthralling tiebreaker. The two stalwarts of Pakistani cricket have given too much to the sport for not receiving a befitting farewell.

Misbah made his Test debut in an unknown turf of Auckland, New Zealand way back in 2001. However, there is an entire generation who have lived a variety of lives but have remained connected to the game somehow.

From the likes of Imran Farhat involved in a rebel Indian cricket league to batsmen who changed his religion to adopt Islam, let us look at some of the players who were playing alongside Misbah, and what they are up to these days.

#1 Imran Farhat

Imran Farhat was one of the most audacious and flashy players Pakistan has ever produced. Despite his talent, Farhat was one of the many who weren’t able to transform their talent into greatness due to a variety of reasons. Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed, together showcased that Pakistani batting is in safe hands with Saeed Anwar at the twilight of his career.

However, things did not pan out the way they thought it would. Inconsistency led to Farhat facing the ax repeatedly as he was frequently in and out of the side. In February 2013, he finally called it quits to play in the Masters Champions league back in 2016 as the board asked for formally announcing retirement to get NOC from the Pakistan board.

In between, he was involved with a brief stint with the rebel Indian Cricket League formed by Kapil Dev. He was part of Lahore Badshahs and ICL Pakistan XI back in 2007-08.

#2 Yousuf Youhana

When Misbah joined the Pakistani Cricket Team, Youhana was already playing in the golden days of his international career. He was already regarded as one of the greatest players to have ever played and will forever be treated within the brackets of Inzamam-ul-Haq, Javed Miandad, and Zaheer Abbas.

But it all ended on a bitter note for Yousuf as he was banned from playing any form of cricket after he was found guilty for fighting with other teammates after their disastrous tour of Australia in 2010. The team was led by Yousuf and after facing the ban from the Board, he decided to quit all forms of cricket.

Yousuf Youhana transformed his religion into Muslim from Christianity. He too was involved with Kapil Dev’s Rebel league. Yousuf is a regular face in Pakistan media. He comes up with his brand of cricketing knowledge with sly comments on politics in Pakistan Board and tries to justify the problems prevalent in Pakistani Cricket with them.

He is at his best when Pakistan gets knocked out of a major tournament. In the hindsight, Mohammad Yousuf deserved a better farewell but those times coincided with some of the darkest times in Pakistan Cricket.

#3 Younis Khan

Younis Khan is all set to receive a befitting farewell along with Misbah-ul-Haq. The duo was responsible for bringing back Pakistan cricket back on track. He recently brought up his 10,000th Test runs against West Indies. He along with Misbah will forever be credited for their rise to the top of Test table last year after their psychologically victorious tour of England.

The feat became even more legendary as Pakistan played no cricket in a place where they can actually call a home ground and still manage to reach the top after 7 years of toil and salvation of pride, year after year. Younis Khan overall represented Pakistan in 381 matches.

The highest point in his cricketing career must be two-pronged as Pakistan, against all odds, were the T20 champions of 2009 along with getting their hands on the mace of Test Championship.

#4 Inzamam-ul-Haq

Inzamam-ul-Haq not only held the legendary status in Pakistan but globally in all the formats he played. He is till date the leading run scorer for Pakistan in One-day Cricket and the fourth overall in the history, only behind the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya.

Inzamam played his last one-day innings at World Cup of 2007 and the entire world had witnessed one of the emotional scenes in world cricket. Inzamam wept his way back to the pavilion after playing his last innings at West Indies. He was part of the Afghanistan squad briefly as a coach a few months back.

#5 Moin Khan

Moin Khan retired from international cricket in 2004 as he last appeared in the Pakistan jersey against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad. Moin Khan will be regarded as one of the most dangerous wicket-keeper batsmen from Pakistan.

The right-hander last featured in the Sachin vs Warne All-Stars series. He was also part of the Master’s Champions League in Dubai and Sharjah in 2016

#6 Saqlain Mushtaq

Saqlain Mushtaq ended up with 288 wickets in one-day cricket. He features on the list of most number of wickets taken by a Pakistani bowler in white ball cricket. He was only behind Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

Saqlain Mushtaq’s legacy in world cricket would be the advent of Doosra. He was also part of the Sachin vs Warne All-Star series. He was briefly appointed as spin consultant for the England Cricket team by the ECB. His contract was later extended until England’s tour of India.

#7 Waqar Younis

Younis bid adieu to international cricket back in 2004 along with Moin Khan and ended up with 789 international wickets (373 in Tests and 416 in ODIs). For a long time, Waqar Younis was part of the coaching staff of Pakistan.

Waqar Younis also had a brief stint behind the mics. He was unceremoniously sacked as the head coach of the team after their early exit in the ICC World T20 of 2016, held in India. Mickey Arthur was appointed as the successor of Waqar Younis

#8 Mohammad Sami

Mohammad Sami, since Misbah’s tour of New Zealand back in 2001, has been in and out of the side in major gaps in between. He was recently recalled into the scheme of things for Pakistan in the T20 World Cup held in India, as well as the Asia Cup T20.

He wore the Pakistani jersey last time at Mohali against the Australians. He is currently playing for the Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League.