In Stats: Records Misbah Broke in His Lord’s Century vs England

Infographics: Misbah-ul-Haq became the oldest Test captain to score a century on Thursday.

Day 1, Lord’s Test
Pakistan: 282/6 after 87 overs (Misbah: 110*, Hafeez: 40, Woakes: 4/65)

Pakistan finished the opening day of the first Test against England in a fairly strong position. The visitors, after opting to bat first on what appeared to be a flat pitch at the Lord’s Cricket Ground, finished the day at a respectable 282-6.

The star of the opening day for the visitors was none other than their captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who walked in to bat with his team at 77-3 and remained undefeated at the end of the day. In the 78th over, when Misbah steered a Steve Finn delivery to the thirdman region to bring up his 10th Test century, he broke a slew of records.

Misbah-ul-Haq, who had already held the record for being Pakistan’s oldest Test centurion, on Thursday became the oldest Test captain to score a century; he was 42 years and 47 days on Thursday. He broke the record held previously by the former Australia captain Bob Simpson, who was 41 years and 359 days old when he scored the last of his ten Test tons in 1978.

Seen in the context of international cricket – covering Tests, ODIs & T20Is – Misbah is the second-oldest among all captains to score a century. The UAE captain Khurram Khan, when he scored his unbeaten 132 against Afghanistan in an ODI in 2014, was 43 years and 162 days old, making him the oldest captain to score a century in international cricket.

Misbah’s century on Thursday was his eighth century as Pakistan’s Test captain. He broke the record held by Inzamam-ul-Haq, who had scored seven Test centuries, which were then the most by a Pakistan captain.

Misbah’s century on the opening day of the tour also put him in an elite club. He is one of only five Pakistan captains to have scored centuries in Test matches in England. To give a perspective to Misbah’s feat, one needs to be made aware that in the 49 Test matches Pakistan had previously played in England, only 4 of their captains had scored a century – the last such occasion (before Misbah-ul-haq on Thursday) was by Javed Miandad in 1992.