10 batsmen I would pick to bat for my life

If your life were at stake, which batsmen would you pick? The ones who are dogged, the immovable objects to the unstoppable bowling forces? Would you pick the daring and dashing intimidators who come at bowlers so hard that their attacks get mellowed, distracted and eventually defeated? What criteria could you possibly use to pick batsmen who put their hand up when the pressure is at its maximum, batsmen who funnily lose focus when the going gets easy and runs are there for the taking?Would you take batsmen who are nightmares for bowlers when it comes to getting them out or batsmen who score prolifically, batsmen who have played out thousands of balls without flinching with impeccable technique or batsmen whose grit and nerves of steel are stuff of legend?A combination of several of the factors mentioned above and some stats, and these are the 10 I would pick to bat for my life (in no specific order).NOTE: This is a list of batsmen I have seen enough of to judge as opposed to someone like Don Bradman, G Pollock, Geoffrey Boycott, H Sutcliffe or, even, G Headley and later, who are 10 years ahead of one man on this list, SM Gavaskar.

#10 Misbah-ul-Haq

Misbah-ul-Haq is a late bloomer, but he has made the most out of it, still leading his country at 40, still contributing. He will never be counted amongst Pakistan’s greatest batsmen, neither will there be accolades showered for his batting exploits. Averaging nearly 47 in Tests in 48 matches, the right-hander has a shade over 3000 runs in Test cricket. In fact, many would say, Hashim Amla or, even, AB de Villiers would make for a better fit instead of Misbah, if a lower Test run tally is not a problem in itself.

But anyone who has followed Pakistan cricket closely in the last 5 years, where every match is virtually an away match for them, Misbah has been the rock of Gibraltar in an otherwise precipitous, volatile batting line-up that implodes more often than not. As for as Pakistan batting in the last half-a-decade is concerned, Misbah and hope stay together on the crease.