Misbah-ul-Haq: A Captain’s Knock – Pakistan v http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760, 2nd Test
Some captains are appointed on the basis of seniority, others on their star power and a rare few on their ability to lead a team by example, put in a performance and in general make a difference.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482, the former One Day International skipper for Pakistan, was a captain that had those traits in him as well and
sticking with Pakistan, it seems that Misbah-ul-Haq is now living up to the responsibility as well.
Pakistan’s Test and ODI captain always had a knack of being able to stand strong and give his side a chance when all hope seemed lost. Misbah first came into the spotlight with his heroics in the inaugural T20 Championship held in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757. He took Pakistan
from a position where defeat seemed certain to where they could have gone on to win.
The resilient batsman would go on to put in several match winning performances and make a name for himself as being Pakistan’s last chance during their trademark batting collapses. Even in the recent 2011 http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Cup, his innings was what took the match
to the last delivery of the match when it seemed to be heading towards a premature end.
Ultimately, one cannot say that Misbah was not made Test captain on anything other than merit as the ODI performances against West Indies is another recent example. As all the wins had Misbah batting and on the crease until the end.
While his first innings performance in the first test may have been disappointing, his second innings half century was an encouraging sign. Though Pakistan went on to lose that particular match, the performance by the captain seemed to have sent the right
signals to his fellow players who put in a much improved performance in the second test.
Scoring an admirable, albeit slightly on the low side 272 runs in the first innings, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 would go on to post a much more impressive and Test match level worthy 377 runs in the second innings.
While Taufeeq Umar’s 135 runs may have stolen the headlines http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972’s unbeaten 102 run should not go unnoticed nor should its significance be undermined. Pakistan’s Test captain did what was expected of him with the bat and did it well.
Misbah played the supporting role when Taufeeq was at the crease and then took things up a gear when the latter departed. It was this ability to adapt effortlessly based on his side’s position that is worthy of praise.
The 102 runs seem to have put the match beyond West Indies who were required to chase a 427 run total in their second innings. Both the number and timing of the knock were crucial as it seemed another batting collapse was a real possibility as is usually
the case when the top order fails to perform.
Luckily for Pakistan, the captain himself was there to ensure that would not happen. It is always nice to see players with responsibilities living up to expectations, if not as leaders then at least as batsmen and on this particular occasion it seems that
Misbah-ul-Haq did just that. One can only hope the player continues to do the same in the future.
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