He has had a fantastic year and let us hope, this fairy tale also has a fairy tale ending.
RAWALPINDI: I clearly remember when Misbahul Haq was made captain two years ago, followers of the game in Pakistan thought he would not be able to survive more than a year as a batsman alone. Misbah was 37 at the time, and after the 2011 World Cup, did not have many fans left, except those who always had faith in him. I will be very honest; even I thought that after the Champions Trophy, Misbah would be hanging up his boots. In fact, during the early months of 2010, a disappointed Misbah was sacked from the team and talked about burning his kit, and hinted that he would call it a day after the 2011 World Cup.
Fast forward to the end of 2013, who would have thought that the now 39-year-old captain would be the highest scorer in One-Day Internationals (ODI) for this year? Who would have thought that this 39-year-old would be one of the nominees for the ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year Award? Who would had thought that he would end up breaking Sachin Tendulkar and Gary Kirsten’s record of most half-centuries in a single year? Misbah’s career has been a fairy tale one from the day he made his debut in first class cricket at the age of 24, till the day he made his debut in international cricket at the age of 28, as well as making a comeback into the team at the age of 34. He has had a fantastic year and let us hope, this fairy tale also has a fairy tale ending with him lifting the 2015 World Cup trophy in Melbourne.
Mohammad Shah Rukh Khalid
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2013.
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