Try as he did Hanif Mohammad never quite debunked the belief that he was a bulwark more than a batsman.
There is no dishonour in that. In fact there was – and is – much cause for celebration because what Pakistan’s batting needed then was a Hanif, a man to batten down the hatches at one end.
Pakistan had a wispy batting order during much of his career. So, Hanif says, he had no choice but to be a man capable of taking three hours over a 20, or batting 16 hours to save a Test, or nine hours to make 187.
It earned him a reputation for extreme dourness and though widespread admiration as well, it was always of a qualified kind. Those feats, Hanif always said – and still does – masked the fact that he was actually by nature a fairly attacking batsman.
There is plenty of proof of that, mostly in domestic cricket and side matches on tour but not enough to dispel a popular perception.
In Misbah-ul-Haq, there are more echoes of Hanif than are apparent at first. Steadily, over the years of his captaincy, Misbah’s batting has acquired a similar reputation for extreme dourness.
Popular culture has anointed it ‘tuk-tuk’ – intended to reflect his slow scoring through the aural effect of his forward defensive: ball dying on hitting bat, tuk, and then tuk again. Helpfully, the generally slow speeds of an actual tuk-tuk (the auto rickshaw) probably only add to that analogy.
He has hardly let it bother him, but on the occasions that he has spoken about it, Misbah puts up much the same defence that Hanif puts forward (no pun intended).
Circumstances almost always necessitate the caution.
He is right, too. How many times in his 31 Tests as captain has Misbah walked to the middle with the freedom to play as he believes he can? A handful?
In which context his hundred on the second day of the second Test against Australia in Abu Dhabi might be the most fun Test innings he has played. He walked in at 332 for three in the morning, which, for him, must have been like walking into a candy store having not eaten sugar for years.
And he played accordingly, as if unburdening himself of all the accumulated pressures of the last four years, where his batting brief has been that of the last man standing between the world and its end.
What else can you make of him hitting his fourth ball for six? And the 13th, which he cover-drove for a boundary, almost down on one knee? This was release, pure and simple. Usually by the 13th ball of any Misbah innings, he has begun setting himself up as a rampart, scoreless and a tone set.
Not long after he was targeting Glenn Maxwell with reverse sweeps, which seemed less a batting strategy and more a cute joke aimed at cricket’s new IPL-world.
The young, modern embodiment of audacious reverse-hitting, being reverse-swept by a 40-year-old player long thought redundant for the shortest format (and also barred from the IPL). The cutest was the attempted reverse sweep (off Michael Clarke) which morphed into a leg glance.
To drive home the point, hidden away was the one shot that has become the mascot of his time as Pakistan captain: the gentle guide through third man, a shot that is not completely a victory for batsman but not completely a loss either.
Logical observation suggests the New Zealand series after this may be his last as a Test player. That must have played a part in how fluid he was, a final reminder that his batting had more shades than was attributed to him.
He will always say he has enjoyed the challenges of his crisis-management batting because all sports professionals spin that line out. But this one really felt like it was for himself and nobody else – a rare, selfish bit of indulgence, like – perish this thought – he might actually be enjoying his batting.
The thing about Hanif late in his career, especially while he was captain, was that batting became a prolonged bout of introspection. He was searching inside for something, an accommodation of his genius to the needs of the team.
That is so Misbah, and it was fitting that when he was on 62, just as he became the most prolific batsman as captain for Pakistan, his average was identical to Hanif’s average as captain.
His captaincy, just like his batting, has also carried shades of Hanif’s leadership; helming mostly a young, star-less team around him, leading by his own understated example.
The difference is, of course, that Misbah has had far more success, and his hundred here, his sixth, all but ensured what should considered to be the greatest triumph of his career.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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