There is nothing graceful or stylish about Munir Dar. An unorthodox front-on stance at the batting crease coupled with ugly swipes reminds one more of a butcher hefting a cleaver than a surgeon with a scalpel. His left-arm spin comes out awkwardly too; seemingly more desperate to get rid of the ball than to unfurl a web of deceit.
Yet, despite lacking any aesthetics, Dar proved to be the ace in the pack as he spearheaded Hong Kong's successful campaign at the Asian Cricket Council Twenty20 in Nepal last week. The oldest player among a brood of boys proved nothing could beat experience as he led both the batting and bowling averages to leave Hong Kong as runners-up to Afghanistan. That secured their berth in the final qualifiers for the ICC World Twenty20 in the United Arab Emirates next March.
Before leaving for Kathmandu, Hong Kong coach Charlie Burke made a prophetic statement about Dar. 'The oldest in the group, he is a match-winner at his best. His clever spin bowling with plenty of variation and his hard batting in the middle order will be much needed if Hong Kong are to qualify.'
The 37-year-old's substance-over-style approach gave Hong Kong an early boost after the opening game, last-ball loss to hosts Nepal when he smacked a half-century to lead the side to victory over Saudi Arabia, who were the minnows in the group. Still the win provided the fuel to stoke confidence through the camp.
That innings won Dar the first of three Man-of-the-Match awards in the 10-team tournament, the most by any player. His other two were against Kuwait and Oman in the semi-finals, prompting Hong Kong manager Travis Pittman to say: 'I might have to pull out the credit card to pay for all this excess [awards] baggage.'
There is no excess in Munir's game. He has a simple approach. The ball is there to hit, so smack it. And his bowling is all about trying to take wickets. While economy can be the name of the game in Twenty20 cricket, the Little Sai Wan all-rounder would rather see the back of the batsman than just contain him.