Misbah-ul Haq and Viv Richards make for a strange pair

Some numbers were always meant to be out of reach. A berserk 56-ball Test century was always supposed to be a thing that belonged to Richards alone ­ not even the Sehwags, Gayles or the Gilchrists, certainly not someone who stumbled upon the scene as belatedly and seemingly detached as the current Pakistani captain.
That Misbah-ul Haq him of all people equals Viv Richards' mark of the fastest Test century, is as mind-boggling as it is there for all of us to see.Misbah is 40, watching him bat you sometimes forget whether he is pushing at the ball or just pushing age. He is everything that Richards would have never wanted to be, even with approaching age, failing eyesight and slowing reflexes that showed up in that strange farewell series of his against England in 1991.
You should ask Shahid Afridi's daughters what they think of it all today. Back in 2011, precocious as daytime and as they wiped away tears, Aqsa and her sisters expertly held forth on how Misbah (apparently on a first-name basis with him then) and his typically plodding batting may have cost Pakistan the World Cup semifinal against India at Mohali.
It made for incredibly cute television. With their maverick dad not in the present mix in the sparse settings of the Abu Dhabi cricket stadium, it is possible they may not have watched Misbah do a Richards on Michael Clarke's hapless Aussies.
Yet, on Sunday, it has happened.
Maybe, it is the strange egalitarianism of cricket, traces of which that can still be found in a much-changed sport that manages to put the usually elegant but hardly mesmerizing Pakistani captain alongside the sport's most destructive batsman.
Or maybe, like all things, even Richards' mark too would one day come to pass ­ only that one never really thought it was possible, or even allowed. The '56' is arguably cricket's coolest statistic. It is short, easy to remember, even more hard to forget and its intent is all there ­ ferocious, aesthetic and unforgiving at the same time.
In a sport that has changed so much that it is hard to recognize today, in a sport of numbers where erstwhile insurmountable have long fallen by the wayside, this was one old connect with the past ­ when newspapers were the carrier of tales, not instant updates on phones.
Eight years ago, the 56 was in danger of being reduced to a footnote. All ready, with a 55-balls for his century to go, Matthew Hoggard bowled Adam Gilchrist one wide outside the off-stump and inadvertently let a record stay. That day in Perth, Gilchrist was as savage as Richards would have been. It made for a terrifying yet fascinating viewing. This time, with Misbah, one is really not sure. But still, it has happened.