Misbah ul Haq Retirement - Musical Tribute Must Watch
Misbah-ul-Haq Khan Niazi (Urdu: ????? ???? ??? ??????) (born 28 May 1974,Mianwali, Punjab, Pakistan), or Misbah-ul-Haq, is an international Pakistani cricketer who currently leads the Test Pakistan national cricket team, and a former captain of ODIs and T20Is until his retirement in 2015 after World Cup.[1][2]
He is a middle-order batsman best known for his composure with the bat whilst also having the ability to be an aggressive big shot player when required. Misbah holds the world record of scoring most runs without century in ODI career.[3] Misbah holds the record of the fastest test half century and shared the record for fastest test century with Sir Vivian Richards, which was later broken by Brendon McCullum. Misbah has an MBA degree in HRM from the University of Management and Technology in Lahore, Punjab.[4]
After retirement in limited over cricket, he continued to play in longer format for few years. On 4 April 2017, Misbah announced his retirement from all international cricket as well after the conclusion of West Indies tour.
In 2013, Misbah was brilliant in terms of his batting. He moved to a career-best seventh place in the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen. Misbah was the leading run scorer in ODI cricket for year 2013 ahead of Mohammad Hafeez and Virat Kohli.[9]
In the first test at Abu Dhabi against South Africa, Pakistan amassed 442 runs, where Misbah scored his fourth test century, which was the second in the innings after Khurram Manzoor's 146. In the second innings the Pakistani batting collapsed and were 7/3 with only needing a mere target of 40. When the two seniors of the team (Misbah and Younis Khan) came in to bat, Misbah hit two sixes off the bowling of Robin Peterson and hit the winning runs with a straight six.
In the second test at Dubai, Pakistan were all out for 99 in the first innings. After South Africa amassed a total of 517 with Graeme Smith hitting his 4th Test double and yet another century from the AB de Villiers, Pakistan were faltering for an embarrassing defeat. At 70/4 Misbah came in and blitzed the South African bowling attack with a 197 run stand with the Asad Shafiq repeating the same stand the two had in the first test, Misbah scored 88 before trying to obliterate the part-time spinner Dean Elgar over cow corner but edged it straight to Jacques Kallis. Misbah finished the year as the highest run scorer in ODIs with 1373 runs ahead of teammate Mohammad Hafeez.
In late 2013, India was scheduled to play South Africa in a 3 Test, 7 ODI and 3 T20I series, which was cut short by the BCCI. To minimize losses, Cricket South Africa invited Pakistan to play South Africa at home, in their third bilateral series of the year.
The first ODI was hosted at Cape Town. South Africa were bundled out for 195, losing by 23 runs, and Pakistan taking the lead, 1–0.[10] The 2nd ODI at Port Elizabeth was rain-affected, bringing it down to 45 overs per side. Pakistan won the game by 1 run, which also led them to a maiden series win against South Africa, that too at home. Pakistan was also the first South Asian team to beat South Africa in a bilateral ODI series at home.[11]
The dead rubber was played at Centurion, and 3 of Pakistan's star bowlers, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi and Junaid Khan were rested. Batting first once again, Pakistan scraped together a total of 179 all out, with Misbah remaining unbeaten on 79. Although the bowlers tried to keep Pakistan in the game, the South African batsmen were too good and won by 4 wickets.[12] Pakistan took the series 2–1. This away win over the Proteas after being humiliated in Pakistan's adopted home, the UAE, brought things back to normal in Pakistan cricket, with Misbah receiving praise from across the country.
Retirement[edit]
In January 2015, Misbah announced that he would retire from ODIs and T20Is after the 2015 World Cup.[26] Misbah captained Pakistan in 2015 Cricket World Cup at Australia. He was the leading run scorer in tournament from Pakistan. Pakistan could only make it to Quarter-Finals. They were defeated by Australia in Quarter-Final, which was the last ODI match for Misbah.
In April 2016, Misbah decided to postpone his Test retirement until Australia tour in 2016/17.[27]
In November 2016, against New Zealand at Christchurch, Misbah-ul-Haq was handed over a one-match suspension by the ICC for his side's slow over rate, meaning he had to miss the second Test in Hamilton.[28] On 30 December 2016, Cricinfo published an article which indicated that Misbah might retire.[29]
However, he continued to play in longer format for rest of the series with success, where Pakistan beat England to become No. 1 Test team in the world as well. On 6 April, 2017, Misbah finally announced his intentions to retire from all international cricket after the conclusion of West Indies tour
