The Desert Storm of Captain Cool

“Silence is the most powerful scream” this one liner can very well define our test captain – Misbah ul Haq – a man who has remained silent to all the criticism and replied to it with his performance. His career is a perfect material for those sad movies, which highlight lives of unsung Heros. Making debut at a relatively older age, not getting chance to play international cricket for many years and then making a comeback with the bang. He was not even part of the playing eleven when he was appointed captain of Pakistan’s test cricket team.
Known as captain cool is famous for his defensive approach both as captain and as a batsman; however, at times he came out of his shell roaring and pouncing on his opponent. One such incident was the famous Abu Dhabi test against Australia during the spring of 2014.
Team Pakistan was already leading the series by 1-0 and in the ongoing test; team had a strong grip on the match too because of the lead it got in first innings. Azhar Ali and Younis Khan gave the required stability in the middle order but the real icing on the cake was yet to come.
Misbah ul Haq came to bat and then the next seventy five minutes were nothing but pure entertainment. Misbah broke his silence with the scream coming from his bat, scoring 101 off just 57 balls. An innings decorated with eleven fours and five sixers secured Pakistan’s ticket to victory. Misbah hit Steve Smith for three sixes in one over, as he raced to 50 in 23 minutes scored the fastest test fifty. His bat was scoring runs against spinners and seamers alike as he kept hitting uninterrupted boundaries to equal the record of fastest test century set by Sir. Viv Richards against England in Antigua.
The dessert storm of Misbah also made him second test captain of Pakistan ever to score twin centuries, and he became first ever opposition captain to score a ton against Australia in both innings of a test match.
Pakistan eventually won the test by 356 runs to seal a whitewash against the mighty Australians, the series will be remembered as Younis Khan’s run scoring spree but that very test will always be remembered for the Misbah’s pleasurable ton.