Published: Apr 26, 2011, 11:26 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 20, 2014, 11:01 PM (IST)
Misbah-ul-Haq of Pakistan plays a shot to be caught to give victory to India during the Twenty20 Championship Final match between Pakistan and India at The Wanderers Stadium
By Nishad Pai Vaidya
As a young cricketer when you watch cricket on television you try to pick up many things. Sachin Tendulkar’s balance at the crease, Rahul Dravid’s straight bat, Brian Lara’s flourish after playing strokes, Steve Waugh’s grit…
Watching Inzamam-ul-Haq, I always wanted to play fast bowlers the way he did, watching Misbah I wanted to perfect my reverse sweep. However, I always told myself, “Never get out the way they would.”
When Misbah-ul-Haq got out hit wicket in the one off T20 at St Lucia against the West Indies, I just felt he has a knack of inventing new ways of getting out. Prior to this dismissal I always knew he would find new ways of getting out, but after this one I know for sure that it is written in his luck.
To be fair to Misbah, he is a fighter. Most of the knocks he plays are gritty and come in tough situations. On many an occasion he has been the lone fighter when the others around him have faltered. He can be a bit too slow (like the recent semi-final knock against India), but then he also has the ability to accelerate anytime – examples are his two knocks against India in the 2007 ICC World T20. However, no young cricketer should get out the way he does at times.
I can remember four occasions where Misbah has found bizarre ways of getting out. Most of them have come at critical junctures of the game. The first one was during the first ever World T20 final at Johannesburg in 2007. No Indian or Pakistani fan would ever forget what happened on the final ball of the game. After hitting a six off the previous ball, Misbah tried to scoop the ball over short fine leg which was caught by Sreesanth and India were crowned the first ever T20 champions.
The second bizarre dismissal came just over a month after the World T20 final when Pakistan toured India. In the second ODI at Mohali, Pakistan were chasing a huge target of 322 and were doing well courtesy a hundred from Younis Khan. Misbah got himself to 49 and then tried to play a scoop off RP Singh and was bowled. Pakistan went on to win the contest, but yet again Misbah had fallen to the scoop.
The third one came in first Test of the same tour. Pakistan were struggling after electing to bat first and Misbah scored a gritty 82 and built a good partnership with Mohammed Sami. Then came a moment of inadvertence when Misbah played the ball behind point and set off for a quick single. The throw from Dinesh Kathik was perfect and Misbah jumped over the ball to avoid the impact but it went on to hit the stumps. He held his head in disappointment and walked off knowing that he was set for a hundred. The partnership was frustrating India but it didn’t need a moment of brilliance from them to break it. Misbah was there to do it for them.
The fourth dismissal came in the most recent game he played which was the T20 against the West Indies.
Inzamam-ul-Haq was another batsman who would find new ways of getting out. However, unlike Misbah he wouldn’t do it after the toil or with victory in sight but could do it anytime and would get out in the most unlikely manners. His ability wasn’t a danger to him alone, but even to his partner at the other end. Can anybody forget his run-outs?
Probably his funniest run out came during the 1999 World Cup in Pakistan’s group game against Australia. Having attempted to get run-out throughout the match and succeeding in getting Yousuf Youhana (as was his name then) he was finally successful in the slog overs. I still remember the commentator saying, “Inzamam is finally run-out after several attempts.”
What happened was bizarre. Damien Fleming bowled a yorker that hit Inzamam right on the toe. He took two steps forward to as if to indicate he was setting off for a run. His partner Wasim Akram ran to the batting end only to find that Inzamam had tried to roll back to the crease lying flat on the ground.
After this particular run out, there came the obstructing the field dismissal against India, the hit wicket off the bowling of Monty Panesar and the infamous run out in a Test match against England where he jumped over a ball to avoid it although he wasn’t setting off for a run.
Inzamam was a fantastic player and will be remembered for the way he bullied bowlers the world over. Nobody would forget his knocks in the final and semi-final of the 1992 World Cup. In fact there are many more such knocks that have won matches for Pakistan but these run outs and funny dismissals won’t be forgotten as well.
What a young cricketer must learn from this is that never to get out is such ways. You may go on to play a number of match winning innings but these dismissals would always be remembered. The match-winning innings would be remembered even more but then one doesn’t want the legacy of funny dismissals to go with them. Thus, as the WWE warning goes “Whoever you are, whatever you do, please don’t try this at home, school or anywhere.”
(Nishad Pai Vaidya, a 20-year-old law student, is a club and college-level cricketer. His teachers always complain, “He knows the stats and facts of cricket more than the subjects we teach him.)
Picture © Getty Images
