NEW DELHI: The unconventional shot Pakistan's Misbah-ul Haq played in the last over of the high voltage Twenty20 World Cup to give India a historic win will haunt him for a long, long time.
Should hard-hitting Misbah, Pakistan's most successful batsman in the championship, have scooped the gentle medium pacer from Joginder Sharma into the hands of Sreesanth at short fine leg or should he have played a more conventional shot with four balls to go and six runs to make?
Cricket pundits remain divided but most were of the view that Misbah, who was in command having scored 43 runs, should have played a proper cricketing shot.
Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan felt that Misbah should have played a more orthodox shot at that stage as a lot depended on him.
"Instead of trying to scoop the ball he should have attempted an orthodox shot and minimised the risk," said Imran, who led Pakistan to a World Cup title victory in 1992.
Imran also could not understand Pakistan team management's decision to send the in-form Misbah at the number six slot.
"It is hard to understand why he was sent down the order. He is the in-form batsman and he has had a very good tournament. He should have come up the order and played more overs," he said.
Spin great Erapalli Prasanna also did not favour such a shot which proved costly to Pakistan.
"It is not easy to hit Joginder as he does not have much pace. Misbah should have hit the ball over the bowler's head instead of trying the scoop shot," Prasanna said.
"Even if he had tried the hook shot, he should have tried it at the square leg region and jabbed the ball on to the ground so that there was no risk at all," he said.
Former Test cricketer Abbbas Ali Baig said it was no doubt a risky shot but if it had gone for a six he would have become a super hero.
"It was a shot fraught with danger. I think he should have restrained himself as he still had four balls left to make six runs. He took a chance too early."
"But I think he wanted to protect the number 11 batsman. Frankly speaking, he should have played a stroke at the mid-on or mid-off region and taken a couple of runs," said Baig.
Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik described the debate over the shot as 'just one of those things'.
Misbah had just hit Joginder Sharma for a towering six when 12 were needed off the last over. He then played a cheeky scoop which resulted in his dismissal and India's triumph, he pointed out.
After it was all over the skipper discussed the shot with Misbah. "Misbah said he was intending to play down the ground and wound up towards that effect, but somehow ended up playing that paddle at the last minute. It's just one of those things," he said.
Coach Geoff Lawson, however, defended the batsman, whose unorthodox shot sealed the fate for the team.
"He's played it well in this tournament and with a little more bat on it, it would have gone for four. I could see him playing it because fine leg was up, a yorker was coming so the shot was pretty much on the cards," he said.
