On October 12 when our beloved President General (Mr.) Pervez Musharraf was celebrating the eighth anniversary of his reluctant coup d’etat in 1999 another Pakistani dictator of a much smaller scale was taking his final bow at the international stage. Yes, it was Inzimam ul Haq.
Although it is too soon to analyze his career with objectivity since most of us still have very fresh memories of his phenomenal achievements and his monumental failures. Despite his obvious imperfections, Inzi was one of the finest batting talents to have survived the Pakistani cricket system.
Batting records in brief:
Tests: 120 Matches, 8,830 runs at an average of 49.60.
Although it is too soon to analyze his career with objectivity since most of us still have very fresh memories of his phenomenal achievements and his monumental failures. Despite his obvious imperfections, Inzi was one of the finest batting talents to have survived the Pakistani cricket system.
Batting records in brief:
Tests: 120 Matches, 8,830 runs at an average of 49.60.
ODIs: 378 Matches, 11,739 runs at an average of 39.52.
Career Summary:
Test debut: England v Pakistan at Birmingham, Jun 4-8, 1992
Last Test: Pakistan v South Africa at Lahore, Oct 8-12, 2007
ODI debut: Pakistan v West Indies at Lahore, Nov 22, 1991
Last ODI: Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Kingston, Mar 21, 2007
Only T20I: England v Pakistan at Bristol, Aug 28, 2006
For those of us who have had the pleasure of watching his entire career from the day he shot to international stardom when he played a wonderful knock in the 1992 World Cup finals, we would all agree that his career was full of match winning performances and he made Pakistan proud more often than most of his mates. As some critics knew him as the most under rated batsman of his time, most of his recognition came during the past 4 years when he was already past his cricketing prime. Unlike Lara and Tendulkar he always maintained a very low profile and was never the favourite cricketer for the international media. Personally I feel he could have scored a lot more runs than he did had he been a part of a more consistent stable cricketing unit.
Since Imran's retirement Pakistan cricket had a new captain literally every season starting from Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Salim Malik, Rameez Raja, Amar Sohail, Saeed Anwar, Moin Khan, Waqar Younis, Rashid Lateef and finally Inzi himself. There were so many in around eleven years that I might have missed a name here, bearing in mind that Wasim Akram had more than one opportunity to prove himself as captain. All the captains were thrown out by the team except for Inzi.
There were betting scandals and investigations which resulted in Saleem Malik and poor Ata-ur-Rahman being banned for life (Justice Qayyum was in-charge of the enquiry). There were disappointments when Pakistan lost to India in 1996 quarter finals, lost the 1999 final to Australia, got eliminated in the first round of 2003 where Inzi could only score 16 runs.
In 2003 everyone believed Inzi was done and it was time for him to disappear in to oblivion like so many other greats were forced to. But Inzi was re-born against an unlikely opponent Bangladesh where he scored a match saving century, Pakistan won the Multan test by merely 1 wicket, and fun as it may sound a good team should never have been in that situation against a week Bangladesh team in the first place. Inzi was soon made the Captain where he slowly grew in the role.
He was often criticized for being slow in his reactions as Captain. Inzi was now getting closer to religion and was an 'Islamizing' influence on the team and the whole team was often seen praying together before and after the match. Irrespective of all that he was the natural leader in that team which had no one who was even close to Inzi in experience and cricketing talent. Pakistan cricket seemed to have some sort of stability after a long time.
Then came the Oval test in August 2006 and Inzi came face to face with his biggest challenge, which surprisingly was not from an opposing cricketer but from an Umpire. Inzi stood his ground although he was miss-led by some but he came out on top when the ball tampering charges were over turned by the ICC and later on Darrell Hair was fired by the ICC's governing body for his inexplicable behaviour. Hair is down but not completely out as he is still fighting to get back to Umpiring. Inzi was never vindictive when he spoke about Hair and forgave him very quickly and moved on.
His lowest moment came during the 2007 world cup where he captained a historic defeat against Ireland and then had to deal with the messed up Jamaican police investigation into the death of coach Bob Woolmer. Inzi announced his retirement from ODI cricket after the match. The world cup performance was investigated and Inzi was termed as a 'dictator' in the report which stated that Chairman of the Board, Sheharyar Khan and coach Bob Woolmer had no decision making powers in Inzi's time, even if this was true I think it was the weakness of the Chairman and the Coach who let things be that way.
His desire to carry on with his test career and score 10,000 runs was not to be full filled and he had no choice but to enter into a 'deal' with the cricket board to play his final test against South Africa in Lahore and leave with his dignity in-tact and he did exactly that he also missed his final target of breaking Javed Miandad's national record for the most number of test runs. Inzi however, is well ahead of any Pakistan batsman in terms of ODI runs with 11,739 stands third on the all time list of run getters only behind Tendulkar and Jayasuria.
He was blamed for not allowing fresh talents into the team and sticking with his favourites even when they failed consistently. He was also the creator of the famous cricketing word 'Jaunsa' and we all used to look forward to his post-match comments, he was not the most articulate of men but definitely had a sense of humour.
He may not be a hero for everyone but he was a class act by any definition and will always be remembered for his contribution to Pakistan Cricket.
Inzi thanks for the memories!!
Career Summary:
Test debut: England v Pakistan at Birmingham, Jun 4-8, 1992
Last Test: Pakistan v South Africa at Lahore, Oct 8-12, 2007
ODI debut: Pakistan v West Indies at Lahore, Nov 22, 1991
Last ODI: Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Kingston, Mar 21, 2007
Only T20I: England v Pakistan at Bristol, Aug 28, 2006
For those of us who have had the pleasure of watching his entire career from the day he shot to international stardom when he played a wonderful knock in the 1992 World Cup finals, we would all agree that his career was full of match winning performances and he made Pakistan proud more often than most of his mates. As some critics knew him as the most under rated batsman of his time, most of his recognition came during the past 4 years when he was already past his cricketing prime. Unlike Lara and Tendulkar he always maintained a very low profile and was never the favourite cricketer for the international media. Personally I feel he could have scored a lot more runs than he did had he been a part of a more consistent stable cricketing unit.
Since Imran's retirement Pakistan cricket had a new captain literally every season starting from Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Salim Malik, Rameez Raja, Amar Sohail, Saeed Anwar, Moin Khan, Waqar Younis, Rashid Lateef and finally Inzi himself. There were so many in around eleven years that I might have missed a name here, bearing in mind that Wasim Akram had more than one opportunity to prove himself as captain. All the captains were thrown out by the team except for Inzi.
There were betting scandals and investigations which resulted in Saleem Malik and poor Ata-ur-Rahman being banned for life (Justice Qayyum was in-charge of the enquiry). There were disappointments when Pakistan lost to India in 1996 quarter finals, lost the 1999 final to Australia, got eliminated in the first round of 2003 where Inzi could only score 16 runs.
In 2003 everyone believed Inzi was done and it was time for him to disappear in to oblivion like so many other greats were forced to. But Inzi was re-born against an unlikely opponent Bangladesh where he scored a match saving century, Pakistan won the Multan test by merely 1 wicket, and fun as it may sound a good team should never have been in that situation against a week Bangladesh team in the first place. Inzi was soon made the Captain where he slowly grew in the role.
He was often criticized for being slow in his reactions as Captain. Inzi was now getting closer to religion and was an 'Islamizing' influence on the team and the whole team was often seen praying together before and after the match. Irrespective of all that he was the natural leader in that team which had no one who was even close to Inzi in experience and cricketing talent. Pakistan cricket seemed to have some sort of stability after a long time.
Then came the Oval test in August 2006 and Inzi came face to face with his biggest challenge, which surprisingly was not from an opposing cricketer but from an Umpire. Inzi stood his ground although he was miss-led by some but he came out on top when the ball tampering charges were over turned by the ICC and later on Darrell Hair was fired by the ICC's governing body for his inexplicable behaviour. Hair is down but not completely out as he is still fighting to get back to Umpiring. Inzi was never vindictive when he spoke about Hair and forgave him very quickly and moved on.
His lowest moment came during the 2007 world cup where he captained a historic defeat against Ireland and then had to deal with the messed up Jamaican police investigation into the death of coach Bob Woolmer. Inzi announced his retirement from ODI cricket after the match. The world cup performance was investigated and Inzi was termed as a 'dictator' in the report which stated that Chairman of the Board, Sheharyar Khan and coach Bob Woolmer had no decision making powers in Inzi's time, even if this was true I think it was the weakness of the Chairman and the Coach who let things be that way.
His desire to carry on with his test career and score 10,000 runs was not to be full filled and he had no choice but to enter into a 'deal' with the cricket board to play his final test against South Africa in Lahore and leave with his dignity in-tact and he did exactly that he also missed his final target of breaking Javed Miandad's national record for the most number of test runs. Inzi however, is well ahead of any Pakistan batsman in terms of ODI runs with 11,739 stands third on the all time list of run getters only behind Tendulkar and Jayasuria.
He was blamed for not allowing fresh talents into the team and sticking with his favourites even when they failed consistently. He was also the creator of the famous cricketing word 'Jaunsa' and we all used to look forward to his post-match comments, he was not the most articulate of men but definitely had a sense of humour.
He may not be a hero for everyone but he was a class act by any definition and will always be remembered for his contribution to Pakistan Cricket.
Inzi thanks for the memories!!
