Misbah-ul-Haq defends his shot selection from the 2007 T20 World Cup final in Johannesburg which cost Pakistan the title versus India.
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With 6 runs needed from the final 4 deliveries in the grand finale of inaugural edition of the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup in Johannesburg, it was Pakistan’s match to lose with their skipper Misbah-ul-Haq on strike and batting beautifully at the score of 43.
However, what happened next will be remembered by the Cricketing fraternity till the sport’s existence, and the fans from India and Pakistan in particular, as one decision made by the former Pakistan skipper back then became the reason for the outpour of extreme/contrasting emotions expressed by people on the two sides of the border.
Misbah, decided to sway his upped body away from the line of the delivery bowled by Joginder Sharma, and play the scoop above Sreesanth stationed at short fine-leg.
However, with him going way outside the off-stump to execute the shot, the ball did meet his bat, but to only balloon up in the air, and under the throat of Sreesanth, who pouched the catch comfortably.
With nine wickets already down, the shot ended Pakistan’s hopes for the title, and it were MS Dhoni’s men who ultimately got their hands at the World Cup, with a 5-run victory.
Misbah-ul-Haq defends his shot selection
Fifteen years and six more editions of the T20 World Cup later, Misbah-ul-Haq still defends his aforementioned shot selection, while maintaining that the problem was with the execution and not the choice.
The now 48-year-old, during an interaction with A Sports, with his then skipper Shoaib Malik also sitting adjacent to him, remarked that he had practiced that shot many a times, and had executed the same even against the spinners back then. He also added that the chances of getting dismissed to any other shot in front of the wicket with four stationed fielders, were also a possibility, while all this while, maintaining his stance with a disagreeing Shoaib Malik too questioning his shot selection, to a medium pacer Joginder Sharma.
“Log aksar mujhe sawaal karte hain ki jab tumhari saamne lag rahi thi, to tumhe kya zarurat thi? Main keha meri te oo sab ton zyada lag rhi si, zindagi ch kadi miss nhi si hoyi. Zindagi me maine vo shot kabhi miss nahi kiya tha. To samne agar chaar fielders boundary pe khade hain, to vo bhi to usi tarah chances hain, aur aap catch out ho sakte ho.
(People often question me why would I opt for that shot, when you were hitting in front (of the wicket) so well. And I’m like, I had never missed that shot my entire life. If I go for a shot in-front of the wicket, chances of the ball ending in the hands of any of the four fielders in front was also a possibility)”, stated Misbah.
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