Misbah's tragedy

Residual value is defined as the worth of something after it is no longer useful in or of itself. Considering the fear we have of being useless, coupled with the reality that there comes a time in everyone’s life where they repeatedly wake up less productive than the day before, it makes sense that we often strive for residual value; it is our savior. That we can tell ourselves we are useful because of what we have already accomplished allows us to embrace and accept that we are, in and of ourselves, useless.

Perhaps that is why reminiscing is the favorite activity of those who have essentially completed their run in life. However, the only way in which such reminiscence can provide solace to someone who sees their life fading is if those memories being recalled are good ones. Not just good, in fact, but good enough to outweigh the bad ones.

And herein lies the tragedy that many people have to face: good memories outnumber bad ones but are often unable to outweigh them. This is what eliminates the residual value of our accomplishments, this stigma of a few bad memories that stains all the good things we have achieved.

That is the stigma my hero, Misbah-ul-Haq Khan Niazi, will have to bear; that is his tragedy. And it is truly a shame, considering Misbah’s career. All his life, he was denied a permanent spot due to an ingrained belief in Pakistani selectors that anyone past their late teens or early twenties is not a long-term prospect for the team. Ironically, even after a debut at 26, Misbah went on to play for more than ten years.

Now, after finally becoming a permanent fixture in the team at 37 years of age, he genuinely isn’t a long-term prospect. What makes this injustice even more painful is that he is providing something to the team that it has been lacking for far too long: a batsman whose form actually improves following a captaincy appointment. Not just that, but Misbah even handled the Test side admirably following the innumerable crises that occurred last year and still kept his form.

Misbah leads from the front, and to do so in a team that sometimes makes that job incredibly difficult, that is admirable. And then there was the innings at Mohali. Perhaps not much else needs to be said. That is the stigma he bears; that is his tragedy.