Inzamam-ul-Haq

Inzamam ul Haq was one of the few players picked by the peerless Imran Khan in the early nineties who went on to shape the future of Pakistan cricket. His first shot at fame came in the 1992 World Cup in Australia. The 22 year old relatively unknown Inzamam scored an incredible 60 from just 37 balls that helped Pakistan to a win from an improbable situation the semi final against New Zealand. This knock sealed him a spot in the national team and more successes followed. One of the first highlights in his Test career in 1994 in a series against Australia. In the first Test at Karachi Inzamam played a knock that is considered to be one of his finest ever. He made 58 while chasing in the fourth innings. Though not impressive as just a score, it is the fact that he made most of the runs batting with No. 10 and No. 11 that makes it a stupendous achievement. He put on 57 runs with last man Mushtaq Ahmed to help Pakistan to victory from a very tight situation. This facet of his batting remained prominent throughout his Test career. He also made 138 against Bangladesh in 2003 to save Pakistan the blushes and earn them another one wicket victory.

For all his silken grace and powers extraordinaire with the bat, Inzamam's girth and his running between the wickets had been an object of constant ridicule throughout his career. For most part of his career, Inzamam remained mellow and did not react to the jokes. The only time that he lost his cool and went berserk much to the surprise of the people watching was in Toronto in 1997. Inzamam rushed with a bat at a spectator in the stands who was constantly ridiculing him by comparing him to a potato! Inzamam had to be reined back by a number of spectators and security staff present there. This incident earned him a two match ban and the buck did not stop there though. The Canadian police recorded charges of assault against him and he was released on bail subsequently.

These stray incidents did not prevent him from scoring runs by the bucket load and he was the mainstay of the Pakistan middle order after the retirement of Javed Miandad. These feelings where enhanced after his tremendous 329 against New Zealand in 2002 but like all great batsmen he faced some troughs too, his lowest being the 2003 World Cup where he managed only 16 runs in a disappointing campaign. He was dropped from the team after the dismal performance but he regained his touch very soon and scored prolifically enough to be named as the captain.

His tenure as a captain was a mixed one with the series losses against India in both tests and ODIs being his lowest but he regained his pride by managing to earn a draw in the next series against India. He is most remembered as a captain for his stance in the Oval controversy in in 2006. The on field umpires, Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove, accused the Pakistan players of ball tampering. They even awarded five penalty runs to England. Inzamam vehemently denied these charges and refused to bring out his team after the decision was taken. Much confusion ensued and finally the game was deemed forfeited by Pakistan and Inzamam became the first ever captain in cricket's history to forfeit a match. This earned him a lot of brickbats in England and in other world media but back home in Pakistan he was termed as a hero and received a lot of support from former players. Subsequent charges of ball tampering were dismissed but he was served with a four ODI ban.

His captaincy stint sank finally after Pakistan's dismal exit in the first round of the 2007 World Cup. He retired from ODI cricket immediately after and resigned as Test captain too. Soon after he announced his decision to join the ICL (Indian cricket league). This decision was stringently opposed by the PCB but Inzamam continued to play in the ICL. This made him unavailable for selection for Pakistan according to the board policy and their stance against ICL. This also earned him a lifetime ban but with the ICL not being as big a success as it was expected to be, Inzamam quit the league. He was selected for Pakistan once more and the 2nd Test against South Africa in Lahore was to be his last. Inzy needed just 19 runs to beat Javed Miandad and become the highest run getter in Tests for Pakistan but he fell just two short of the mark in an anticlimactic finish to his illustrious and much cherished career.


By Ganesh Chandrasekaran