Misbah-ul-Haq is letting his bat do all the talking. A day after it was reported that the Pakistan Cricket Board asked the Test captain to retire after Pakistan’s tour to West Indies, Misbah made a statement of his own with a phenomenal unbeaten 37-ball 82 in the Hong Kong T20 Blitz.

The Hong Kong Island United captain lead his team to a 33-run win against Hung Hom JD Jaguars in their tournament opener. Misbah struck four sixes and a four off the final over to take his team to 216 for 6 in 20 overs. In response, the Jaguars were restricted to 183 for 8, despite Jonathan Foo’s 77, with former Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal picking two wickets.

One of the reasons given for PCB’s call was the Pakistan’s captain’s age. “It is a fact that during the tour, he will turn 43 and I don’t see him continuing to play on after the tour,” PCB chairman Shahryar Khan was quoted as saying by PTI. However, Misbah’s blistering innings at the Hong Kong T20 blitz seems to be the answer to a lot of critics who believe that age has slowed him down.

Admittedly, the Hong Kong league does not have the best of bowlers and the ground was a small one, but Misbah’s innings was yet another reminder of his batting calibre.

Before the match, he had spoken about how he was looking forward to scoring on the “small” ground. “It’s always exciting to play in a tournament like this. The ground is a bit small and looking forward to scoring some runs. There were some exciting matches yesterday and it was good to share the dressing room with some great T20 players and young Hong Kong players,” Misbah was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post. He clearly kept his word. Now to see more of the Pakistan Test captain’s limited overs batting.

You can watch Misbah’s full innings here:

Brief Scores:

Hong Kong Island United 216 for 6 (Misbah-ul-Haq 82*, Munir Dar 42; Mohammad Naveed 2 for 29, James Franklin 1 for 27) beat Hung Hom JD Jaguars (Nizakat Khan 34, Jonathan Foo 77; Saeed Ajmal 2 for 25, Kyle Christie 2 for 27) by 33 runs.