AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MASTER
There are two players I like most in the Pakistani team - Yousuf Youhana and Inzamam-Ul-Haq. These two makes a high impression on our minds when they comes out to bat. They are extrmely opposite to Shahid Afridi who wants to get out on every delivery he happens to face -seems to be saying, ’’Try your best, you will never make me out, I will get out myself’’.
Pakistan managed to beat India even if I expected India to win and they fought back well to restict Pakistan. Somehow Shahid Afridi’s bat was hit by the ball in the middle by Irfan Pathan, I wonder how Pathan found the exact middle. Actually, the credit of this victory goes not only to the eye closed hitter Afridi and the top scorer Youhana, but to the captain Inzamam-Ul-Haq.
I never like Pakistani players when I were a kid, but now I am trying to have my eyes on their class and not their nationality, race nor looks. Thats why I chose to write about this man - a big, tall figure, somewhat fat - seems to be weighing much, but his class weighs more than himself - he is such a wonderful player.
THE GENTLE GIANT
Coming back to Pakistan, Inzamam-Ul-Haq had been running wild these days, keeping Pakistan on the right track. He just got to 10, 000 when Sachin Tendulkar had been on the injuries list. Sachin is about 3000 runs in front and there is not much of a chance of overtaking him, but still this man has got to a remarkable stage in his career.
He was out of the team long ago making the fans think that his career is over for good. But he came back strongly to take a team full of chaos inside as well as outside to some fantstic victories even if he tasted some defeats in the middle. The return of this man as a captain was really a great measure taken by the Pakistan Cricket Board.
When he plays well, the success rate of the team goes really very high. He has managed to get 10018 runs from 339 matches and 299 innings at an average of 38.98 with the help of 10 centuries and 70 half-centuries. This makes me say that he is very poor in converting fifties into the centuries.
His running between the wickets is the worst you can imagine, even worse than VVS Laxman of India. He is involved in a record number of run outs in his career as he was out 37 times in this style and has just escaped from some of them in a whisker. He got the natural ability to get himself as well as his partner run out. But as he can hit some big hits, there is really no need for any risky runs.
He plays almost all shots brilliantly and his late cuts, leg glances and sweep shots are played very fine to beat the fielder. Will you expect something from this man by seeing him walk and stay in the crease? Nope. He looks a tired man or just a bit sleepy at times. He may look unstable, but he is more stable than any one else in the team.
He can be aggressive as well as defensive as the situation demands from him and he is extremely dangerous in slog overs just like the Indian captain Saurav Ganguly. He was the part of the World Cup winning Pakistan team and is still in the team - such a long career he had, delivering whenever needed.
Style, techinque, timing, placement - all stays inside him. When he comes to the crease, we know that the bowlers will not rest as most of them fly to different directions. He seems to have become a ’’force of nature’’ for Pakistan as he and Yousuf Youhana helds the middle order of the team together.
When he look at his One Day Statistics, we can see that got most centuries against India and Srilanka which underlines the fact that he is a class player and is there when Pakistan needs him most. As the second player to get to 10000 runs in One Day cricket, he still got a long way to go before he retire, especially to lead Pakistan team to the next World Cup.
He is also one of the best slip fielders with some great pair of hands. He earlier had some communiction problems with his team mates, which he has managed to solve in these days. As Bob Woolmer is there to help him, the team is to improve even more. He seems to be still young in his mind even after passing 34.
His batting average as a player is 38.32 while that as a captain is 45.33 - which is quite a good sign for Pakistani cricket fans. He will not be remembered much for his brilliant innings, but those innings he played for the victory of his team.....which he managed to do quite comfortably in the recent past.....something quite useful for the team as they are playing Srilanka and Zimbawe at home.....isn’t he almost a gentle, powerful giant like ’’The Big Show’’ of WWE?
SPECIAL UPDATE FROM AN EXTREMELY SAD INDIAN CRICKET FAN:- India is going to lose this test? Rahul Dravid runs out of the captain, the man is in form. Laxman and Yuraj seems to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. We do miss Sachin Tendulkar and we do have our opening pair in the worst form of their life.
AND THANKS TO YOU ALL FOR READING THE REVIEW. PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO RATE IT AND LEAVE SOME COMMENTS BEHIND BEFORE YOU LEAVE.