SHARJAH // Misbah-ul-Haq is said to be giving himself the duration of the HBL Pakistan Super League to think about whether he wants to continue playing cricket.
Now aged 42, his retirement, and the precise date of its announcement, is a persistent theme following him around, whether he likes it or not.
Recent events would have hastened a lesser man than Misbah straight towards the exit door. Pakistan’s long-serving Test captain has already repaired his national team once already after a corruption crisis.
Now the same is happening with deepening severity in the country’s Twenty20 league, and his Islamabad United franchise are at the centre of it.
They had their confidence knocked last time out when they had their six-match winning streak ended in the wake of losing two players to a corruption-related suspension.
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And if he was beginning to think he is too old for this sort of thing already, certain elements of Wednesday night’s match against Quetta Gladiators might have compounded matters.
The venerable statesman of Pakistan cricket was dismissed by a bowler who is well under half his age.
Hasan Khan, an 18 year old left-arm spinner, was born in the same year — 1998 — in which Misbah first played first-class cricket. The emerging player pick for Quetta trapped Misbah in front for just 10.
The one significant saving grace for Misbah was the fact it was a young sprite in the red of Islamabad that was the difference between the two sides.
In the brief time they batted together, Sam Billings ran Misbah off his feet. He did the same to his celebrated elders like Dwayne Smith, Brad Haddin, and Shane Watson, too.
But the 25-year-old Englishman survived them all, as he made an unbeaten 78 for the defending PSL champions, to set up a five-wicket win against the side they beat in last year’s final.
Given the week they have had, a rapid return to winning ways is just what everyone associated with Islamabad was demanding.
Billings’s perky form for Islamabad in the opening week of PSL 2017 has cut a contrast to that of the England batsman in the opposition line up.
Kevin Pietersen might be one of the headline acts in this — or any — competition, but he is enduring a torrid run at present.
Arriving in the UAE after an up-and-down spell in Australia’s Big Bash League, Pietersen had already suggested his globetrotting had left him flagging, after pulling out of the forthcoming Indian Premier League.
Maybe fatigue is to blame for his lapses with the bat here. When Pietersen was trapped in front by Mohammed Sami, he registered his second successive first-ball duck.
He has managed just three runs in nine balls across three matches so far in the competition, while his run extends to three ducks in six innings if it includes the BBL.
Quetta can console themselves with the fact this was a rare loss for them, having started this season with back-to-back wins.
pradley@thenational.ae
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