Misbah - The Unfortunate

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Misbah - The Unfortunate

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LAHORE (Web Desk) - Pakistani skipper Misbah ul Haq is consider as the one of the most unfortunate cricketers in the world cricket. Misbah, 40, made his debut in 2002 against New Zealand and right from that day he has been facing troubles continually.

When Misbah made his debut in 2002 it was very difficult for anyone to make his place in the middle order of Pakistani team. Although Misbah was performing well in domestic cricket and selectors rewarded him by giving him the chance to play in the national team against New Zealand but it had became difficult for Misbah to find his place in playing XI because Pakistani middle order was strong enough with the names like Inzimam ul Haq, Younis Khan and Muhammad Yousaf.

After being ignored from the team Misbah worked really hard and made his comeback in the Twenty20 World Cup 2007 hosted by South Africa. Misbah shocked the world by his aggressive batting throughout the tournament. His performance against India in both the matches of tournament was exceptional. But one shot that Misbah played on the last bowl of tournament ruined all his hard work. People forgot his fighting innings against India in World T20 final but everyone remembers his last shot and blames Misbah for the defeat.

Misbah has never scored an ODI century and though he got the chance to achieve the milestone twice, he failed by inches. Once against New Zealand when Misbah remained not out on 93 and Sohail Tanvir finished the game without giving the strike to Misbah. The other time Misbah got the chance to score in triple figures against West Indies in ICC Champions Trophy, no batsmen supported him from the other end and entire team got out for 170 while Misbah remained not out on 96.

People call Misbah  tuk tuk  due to his slow batting but interestingly Misbah’s strike rate is 73.65 which is more than the strike rate of Indian legend Rahul Dravid 71.24 called  the wall .

Whenever Pakistani upper order collapsed, Misbah always showed resistance though he played slow but saved one end of the pitch and people always criticized him for slow batting. Our nation always supports those players who play with high strike rates but few know that real cricket is not about hitting the ball but to stand on the crease. Many times Misbah had done all the hard work during the crucial time of the match and then a hard hitter came to the crease and scored quick runs to get all the credit.

Misbah was the highest run-scorer of 2013. He is the only Asian captain to win a bilateral series against South Africa in South Africa.

Misbah was the captain of the national side when Pakistan won the Asia Cup 2012 and beat India in Asia Cup 2014.

It was Misbah who beat India in India in a bilateral series.

Under Misbah’s captaincy, Pakistan whitewashed England and Australia in Test series.

Pakistan drew Test series against world number one team South Africa in UAE. Misbah ul Haq also holds the record of winning most Test matches as a captain of Pakistan and he is also the fastest fifty maker and the century maker in Test cricket and still he gets trolled by his own nation.

But nation is hopeful that Pakistan will lift the World Cup trophy under Misbah ul Haq captaincy.