Misbah-ul-Haq’s match winning performance against the West Indies has enabled him to retain the Cricket World Player of the Week title. The Pakistan’s vice captain played an iconic role against West Indies in the ongoing series. Pakistan lead the five One-Day International series 3-1.
In the second ODI at Beausejour Stadium, Gros Islet in St Lucia, Misbah played a smart inning of 43 runs in 43 balls in a partnership of 61 with Ahmed Shehzad, who smashed a brilliant hundred, to help Pakistan seal a 7 wicket victory. He followed the same thrust in the third ODI, staying at the wicket after the early loss of three wickets and played a crucial innings by scoring an unbeaten 62 runs in 109 balls.
Misbah, famous for his slow batting style even in ODIs, played a number of unhurried knocks that has helped Pakistan on various occasions. His sluggish recital was a nightmare for the Pakistani fans during the semifinal of the ICC World Cup 2011 against India since he batted very slowly at a time when Pakistan needed some fireworks from him to accelerate the flow of runs. Eventually, Pakistan lost the important semifinal because of his poor batting display.
After the World Cup, the Pakistani nation was furious at Misbah’s horrible batting and many started making fun of him in the form funny text messages and humorous videos on social networking websites. Pakistan’s former skipper Asif Iqbal, opposed the selection of Misbah in ODI team. He said: “I think both Misbah and Younis should be regular features in Test cricket rather than in one- dayers. I am a little disappointed that Misbah is in the ODI squad, whereas, really, he should have been excluded.
would be totally unfair now if he goes ahead and scores lots of runs whereas in the much needed situation in the World Cup, he didn’t deliver. A youngster should have been given a space in his place”. In spite of all the criticism, Misbah has impressed everyone with his match-winning performances in the ODI series.
