Azhar-Asad Since Misbah-Younus

Misbah and Younus played their farewell Test in May 2017. Months before that, the whole universe had, apparently, come to two conclusions.

1. Those - Misbah's and Younus' - are big shoes to fill.
2. They have spent enough time with their proteges for those apprentices to fill in their void.

Azhar and Asad were groomed, as replacement of Misbah and Younus, for years. Since their retirement, has the duo of proteges delivered to the promise? For reasons well-known to everyone, this question has already achieved the promotion from a routine check list item to a more point of concern and deeper probe. 

Here's that deeper probe into that question. Here's a quick look at how Azhar and Asad has fared since the departure of Misbah and Younus. 

Ideally, it should have been a comparison of performances of Azhar and Asad, in this period, with the performances of Misbah and Younus. However, for obvious reasons, the performances of Azhar and Asad have been benchmarked here with their own performances - across their careers. 

Has their performance level improved (in comparison to their own career benchmarks) since the retirement of Misbah and Younus? Let's have a look

Azhar Ali hit the peak of his career, numerically, during Pakistan's tour to Australia in 2016. He managed to maintain his own standards, to an extent, till the retirement of Misbah and Younus in May 2017. Since then, it has been a downward slide. A definite point of concern for Pakistan.

On the other hand, the decline in Asad Shafiq's performance is even more alarming. He remained, somewhat, at the numerical peak of his Test Career during October 2015 to October 2016. Since October 2016, it has been a steep slide in his career. 

Instead of the expectation of them stepping up to a higher level, the duos performance since the retirement of Misbah and Younus is on decline. Its not that they have failed in each innings since then. They have scored in few odd innings but that has not been sufficient to maintain their own performance benchmarks - let alone competing with benchmarks set by Misbah and Younus.