Misbah-ul-Haq - Pakistan Cricket's Unsung Hero
Stardom, Glamour, God-Gifted, Crowd Puller – these are not words one can identify with Misbah-ul-Haq for sure. But the astonishing part is that in spite of not having these qualities, he still is the most calm-headed trouper for Pakistan Cricket, even at the age of 41. It’s an age when most players would already have bid adieu to the game. His level-head, unruffled temperament is reminiscent of Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former captain-batsman of Pakistan, who was cooler than even a cucumber.
A product at the time of purchasing tends to be judged by its packaging. If the packaging is decent, then automatically it imprints a positive impact on the customer’s mind. If the packaging is shabby and unglamorous, then some people won’t even look at the product, leave alone purchasing and using it thereafter.
This is exactly what happened to Misbah-ul-Haq. He isn’t one of those players gifted with innate talent, but as we know, hard work and determination can overcome any challenge. Misbah did exactly the same and he is still displaying the same amount of learning zeal even at the age of 41.
Playing for Pakistan wasn’t quite a cakewalk for Misbah. Since making his debut in 2001 and 2002 in Test matches and ODI’s respectively, Misbah, till 2007, could play only a handful of 17 ODI’s and 7 Test Matches, a phase which could easily dent a player’s confidence. Misbah was a tough nut to crack and even at the age of 33, he didn’t abdicate his dreams of donning the Pakistan colours in International Cricket,
As the phrase goes, “God helps them who help themselves’, Misbah helped himself to an enthralling and stupendous comeback in International Cricket. His comeback was also helped by the fact that Pakistan needed an appropriate replacement for the legendary Inzamam-ul-Haq. There was no looking back since then for the man from Mianwali, Punjab. Within no time, from a second-rate has-been, he became a stalwart of the Pakistan middle order.
A constant battle to prove critics wrong
Even when he was piling on runs at a hemorrhaging rate, recognition didn’t quite go in his favour and somewhere down the line, his supreme batting prowess always seemed to get overshadowed. But passion, love and immense dedication for the game always worked as a motivational tonic for him. A team player, Misbah was an epitome of perseverance.
Without making even the smallest of buzz, he has mastered 5122 runs in ODI’s and 4352 runs in Tests; the bulk of those runs has been scored in the second half of his career after his comeback in 2007. The 218 runs in World T-20 2007 may look like a regulation statistic to the naked eye, but for Misbah it was like pumping some much-needed oxygen into the lungs.
The India series later in the year worked as an icing on the cake where he tormented the Indian bowlers to score at an average of 116, with his maiden Test Century being the feather in the cap.
In his career, which eventually kick-started from the middle of 2007, controversies were a major part. He is often deemed to play too slow and is often held responsible for Pakistan’s demise whether it’s a T20, ODI or a Test Match. Things aggravated to such an extent that he got the nickname of “Tuk-Tuk”. He certainly had a fitting response in reply and he bombarded it on his critics when he equalled Sir Vivian Richards’ record by muscling his way to the joint-fastest Test hundred in 56 balls against the might of the Aussies in Abu Dhabi.
A battle with bad luck
The saddest part of all – in spite of having a Test average of 49.86 in winning causes for Pakistan and after dragging out a vulnerable Pakistan batting order from precarious positions almost every time, criticism kept hammering down on him. The sensational part is that he remains unfazed by things around him and never allowed any kind of negativity to put a dent into his tranquil mind. He is currently the most successful Test captain for Pakistan with 20 Test match victory out of 42 matches, ahead of the likes of Imran Khan and Javed Miandad.
While critics kept bombarding on him, luck didn’t shine on him either. It was the final of the inaugural World T-20 at the Wanderers in Johannesburg and India was at the helm. From nowhere Misbah brought life to the game and took Pakistan tantalizingly close to the total, only to concede the match to India by a margin of five runs.
Misbah also holds the rather unwanted record of most ODI runs without a hundred. People can criticize Misbah for anything, but they can’t help but agree that after the 2010 spot-fixing scandal, Misbah, after being made the captain, was the one who gave some breathing space to Pakistan Cricket, dragging them out from a not-so-glorious phase.
Critics and luck may not have shone brightly on Misbah-ul-Haq, but Pakistan Cricket’s luck already took a U-turn when Misbah made his way into international Cricket, more so after his superlative comeback on the international stage in 2007. He is an unsung hero of Pakistan Cricket and without any hesitation it can be said that after Misbah calls it off from Test Cricket, a huge vacuum will be created which will be a heck of a task for Pakistan Cricket to fill.