Misbah-ul-Haq Stuns the World, Right before Cricket World Cup 2015
Misbah-ul-Haq, was the Hamlet of Pakistani cricket. To hit or not to hit was the question that he faced on every ball that he played and normally decided not to hit. A notorious personality, in the world of cricket , known for batting as slowly as possible , in every form form of cricket, leave alone test cricket. The people of Pakistan, especially Karachi waited for Nilofer! The name given to the incoming storm, but the storm subsided and moved away from the shores of Karachi taking a different route but Misbah took over the role of Nilofar. All of a sudden, there was a blast, knocking down many records on the way, the fastest fifty and the fastest century in test cricket, and plunged every ball that came his way into different corners of the playing field. He within no time had hit 4 sixes and four fours in 74 minutes. The outcome was the fastest century in test cricket. A 54 ball century that brought Misbah-ul-Haq to equal, the great Sir Viv Richards record that he scored against England in 1984! In the process he also made the fastest fifty in test cricket which required Misbah-ul-Haq only 24 balls.
It came when Misbah-ul-Haq captained his test team for the 31st time at the ripe age of 40 years. It was like phoenix rising from the ashes and then dominating the scene. Those who were lucky to witness this carnage will carry the images of those blistering hits all their lives. The poor Australian team, who suffered at the hands of Misbah-ul-Haq will feel the scars of this match and may haunt them in the shape of nightmares. Moreover, all the articulate and vocal critics of Misbah-ul-Haq’s slow batting were head down and started to find ways to save face loss when they appeared on TV programmes. It was almost the tortoise running like the rabbit. It is interesting to note and observe how can such a metamorphosis take place ? An approach that belied the meditated and concentrated method of batting of a person known the world over as master of slow and defensive batting. It will not be a wonder for me if Misbah-ul-Haq carries both the records of the slowest and the fastest century maker in test cricket. This evidently shows the adjustment and compromising qualities of a cricketer where the team and country is much much bigger than the ego which he carries within. Misbah-ul-Haq had suffered at the biased media because when he batted slowly he was honored with the title of tuk tuk, whereas, when Rahul Dravid adopted the same stance he was called Mr. Wall…Read More at PARHLO
