Some people call him Misbah-ul-Haq ‘tuktuk’. But he is very much capable of hitting the ball hard in the time of need. He proved it many times before when he smashed the fastest century in the history of Test cricket, and also when he single handedly took Pakistan to the final of the World T20 back in 2007. And once again the Test skipper of Pakistan proved his worth in style, when he hit a scintillating 61 off 39 balls for his BPL side Rangpur Riders in the opening match of the tournament against Chittagong Vikings.
When Misbah came to the crease, Rangpur were in huge trouble with losing 4 wickets for just 23 runs on their way to chasing a mammoth target of 188 runs. Mohammed Mithun, Lendl Simmons, Shakib Al Hasan and Soumya Sarkar – all were back to the pavilion and Rangpur were badly in need of some partnership that could bring them back to the contest.
Misbah was there as the saviour. First he built up a partnership of 64 runs with Mohammad Al Amin and then stitched another 80-run stand with Thisara Perera. Misbah in all smashed as many as four over boundaries alongside three boundaries. Misbah were ultimately bowled out by Mohammad Amir in the 19th over when his team were still trailing by 21 runs in 9 balls. But at then his departure didn’t affect much on his team’s way to victory as they were able to clinch win in a last-ball thriller by 2 wickets.
