Misbah-ul-Haq reflects back at the famous paddle sweep of ICC World T20 2007

Former Pakistan cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq is one of the legends of the game. Misbah ended his illustrious career earlier this year when he led the Pakistani side to a clinical win in the Caribbean. He finished as the most successful Test captain of Pakistan, with 26 wins under his belt. Albeit he has had such an illustrious career, there remains one solitary spot or moment of his playing days that comes to the fore whenever his name springs up in any conversation.

The stage was set for the final over of the finals of the inaugural edition of the ICC World T20 2007. Misbah had done everything correct in the game up until the delivery on which he decided to play a paddle sweep off the bowling of Joginder Sharma. Misbah ended up scooping one in the air, and Sreesanth completed the catch to see India lift the World Cup.

Recently, as per the quotes in Cricbuzz, Misbah was asked if he regrets playing that shot at that particular juncture of the game. Misbah-ul-Haq was firm in answering in negation. He noted that he had been playing that shot very well and hence he picked it to be ‘the one’ on the occasion.

“I must say one thing… at that time I analyzed the situation and I picked my best shot at that pressure situation because I was so confident about it. I played that shot through out that World Cup so successfully and even before. I missed that shot for the first time in the tournament. Afterwards you can think that ok I could have done this or that and could have played it differently but at the end, I am satisfied that I picked my best shot about which I was so confident. Sometimes it happens that your best shots just don’t pay off. Because of the occasion everyone still remembers it but afterwards I just put it behind and said no I have to move forward,” quoted Misbah-ul-Haq.

Difficult to pick cricket over education?

Not many people know that Misbah-ul-Haq is one of the most educated cricketers in the cricketing world. His father was a teacher and hence, there came a stage in his life when he could have taken either of the two paths available – cricket or education. He remarked that he ended up choosing cricket since he enjoyed that more.

“Yes at one stage it was difficult because I was not playing too much professional cricket and there were two lines to choose from. I could have gone towards my business administration and the other thing was cricket. I just choose my passion as my profession and I am happy that I just went on cricketing side. I enjoyed that and obviously, when your passion is your profession you can carry on for long time and can even perform better,” conceded Misbah.