West Indies vs Pakistan: 1st ODI - 5 talking points of the match

2. Misbah-ul-Haq’s obstinacy

Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi played in extremely contrasting ways

One can’t find a better word for the strange, but critical innings that Misbah-ul-Haq played in the match but ‘obstinacy’. He walked in at 18/2 in the 7th over and departed as the eight wicket at 200 in the 48th over of the match, consuming 121 deliveries for a knock of just 52 runs at a strike rate of just over 40.

It was a match-winning performances given the circumstances, but it would not have been the same without Shahid Afridi’s breezy knock of 76. And so would have been the case with Afridi’s innings, which would not have been the same either without his skipper’s calm presence at the other end.

Misbah was the perfect catalyst for the highly reactive material with which Shahid Afridi is made. The captain is exactly the kind of batsman this highly vulnerable Pakistan batting line-up needs at number four.