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2005 has turned out to be Inzamam's year
by
Ghalib Mehmood Bajwa
Karachi
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By Ghalib Mehmood Bajwa
The Pakistan cricket team sealed their Test match calendar year with a thumping 2-0 victory against pre-series favourites England. It was a wonderful end to a year which began with 3-0 bashing at the hands of Australia in an away three-Test rubber in January. After the Australian tour, the Pakistan team regrouped themselves handsomely and returned victorious from India and West Indies.
In all Pakistan played nine Test matches out of which they won four and lost three games during the year 2005. Pakistan registered one victory each in India and West Indies and two against England at home grounds -- Multan and Lahore.†
The last 12-month duration definitely can be termed as a successful period in which Pakistan revived their fortunes in both versions of the game. It may be recalled here that in the beginning of the year, the green flag-bearers finished as runners-up in the triangular VB Series in Australia. Then they recovered brilliantly in India after being 2-0 down and won the six-match ODI series 4-2. Pakistan also thrashed the hosts West Indies 3-0 in the bilateral One-day International series.
Both captain Inzamam and coach Bob Woolmer, who were a bit nervous and unstable following the worst debacle in Australia, are now enjoying their positions and a complete hold on things.
The most important aspect of Pakistan's highly improved performance is home captain Inzamam-ul-Haq's magnificent rather record-breaking form throughout the year. Here is a brief glimpse of Inzi's landmarks he achieved in the year 2005.
He completed his hundred ODI catches in Australia. The Multan-born captain completed his century of Tests in India and then decorated it with a huge knock of 184 -- the highest number of runs in one's 100th Test breaking Gordon Greenidge's record of 149. He also extended his world record of most ODI fifties to 81. Against visiting England, he broke Javed Miandad's Pakistan record of most centuries in Tests at Faisalabad when he hit a hundred in each innings.
When Inzamam completed his half-century in the second innings at Faisalabad, he snatched another rare honour. It was the 10th occasion when he struck two fifty plus scores in a Test match. He already left Javed Miandad behind in the race of two 50-plus scores in a Test match at Kingston, Jamaica. Miandad had seven such instances in 124 Tests. However, the world record of two 50-plus scores in a Test belongs to the Australian great Allan Border, who had 13 such instances to his credit. It is expected that Inzi would comfortably chase his record in the next season or so.
Inzi joined the elite club of 8000 Test runs in the next game at Lahore. The Pakistan skipper also completed 1,000 runs in the calendar year for the second time in his career. He also piled up over 1000 runs five years ago in the year 2000. Mohsin Khan (1982) is the only other batsmen to score a 1,000 runs in a calendar year for Pakistan. Prior to the England series, Inzi's total in the 2005 Test matches was 569 runs and it looked quite out of calculations to reach 1000-run mark but the stylish executioner made it possible through some masterfull batting.
A week later he became only the second batsman of cricket history after India's Sachin Tendulkar (13,909) to complete 11,000 runs in One-day Internationals, achieving the feat in the second game of the five-match series. After such massive performances, nobody will object if 2005 is labelled as Inzamam's year. Moreover, the giant Pakistan skipper also captained the Asia XI in a three-match Afro-Asia ODI Cup series and later in the year he represented a World XI in the historic Super Test against the world champions Australia at Sydney.
Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium has remained a lucky ground for Inzamam where he grabbed two back-to-back major distinctions -- 8,000 Test runs and 11,000 ODI runs in a week's time.
Inzamam-ul-Haq missed his 25th century in Lahore by just three runs after being involved in a mix-up with pacer Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who being on the striker's end, should have sacrificed his wicket to give his captain a chance to complete his 25th century that would have taken him to new heights.
It was not the first occasion when Inzamam had became a victim of the nervous 90s. In his 105-Test career, he has lost his wicket seven times in the 90s, six times in the 80s and seven times in the 70s. His number of centuries could have reached upto 30 had he availed even half of those opportunities.
Inzi requires another 780 runs to surpass Miandad's Pakistan Test runs record and in the new year it is very much on the cards that the burly batsman would overtake Miandad in the first half of the year. It may be recalled here that Pakistan are scheduled to host arch-rivals India next month for a three-Test and five-match ODI series and then they would make a return visit to England in July for a four-match Test series that would be Pakistan's first series exceeding three Tests in the last 16 years.
The year 2005 remained unfortunate for Pakistan vice-captain Younis Khan, who lost his father and then his brother in this period. He had to come back from Australia in January following the death of his father and recently he missed Lahore Test against England after the demise of his brother in Ukraine. However, he was a successful cricketer with the willow scoring 899 runs in eight Test matches.† Express bowler Shoaib Akhtar managed to revive his career in the later part of the year. Akhtar's 17 wickets played a key role in Pakistan's 2-0 Test series win over England. The Pakistan selectors ignored him for India and then West Indies tours after watching his persistent attitude problem. However, against England he was seen as a matured cricketer both performance and behaviour wise.
Middle order batsman Hasan Raza, the record holder of the youngest Test cricketer record,† remained unlucky for not performing well despite getting sufficient opportunity against England. He was given a chance in two Test matches but he could not go beyond 21 runsin three outings.
On the other hand, some standard batting and wicket-keeping performance from young Kamran Akmal in both versions of the game resolved another chronic problem of Pakistan cricket. During 2005, he had so far struck two centuries in Tests and three in ODIs till the filing of this article.
During the year 2005, cricket lovers observed many strange decisions on the part of Pakistan Cricket Board. Some cricketers were rewarded with Central Contracts and some were given berths in the national team out of the way.†
Under-scrutiny pacer Shabbir Ahmed, who was reported and banned on a couple of occasions for his suspect bowling action, was given central contract. Shabbir was suspended for an indefinite period by ICC during the last West Indies tour. PCB, after ignoring deserving and perfect pacers like Mohammad Asif and Shahid Nazir, gave Shabbir another chance against England but he was reported again.
Similarly, PCB's 'blue eyed artificial' opener Shoaib Malik, who was illogically adjusted as an opening batsman in the Test side at the expense of genuine and tested openers Yasir Hameed and Imran Farhat, completely failed to justify his place in the Test team. In five innings, his highest score remained only 39. He took four wickets in three Tests at 40.25. There is need to restore the shattered confidence of genuine openers Yasir Hameed and Imran Farhat instead of wasting time and money on an all-rounder like Shoaib Malik, who is more known for his bowling and pinch-hitting.
The Faisalabad Test against England would be remembered for some contentious umpiring decisions, ICC match referee's strange and biased attitude, the PCB's slow reaction to adverse umpiring decisions etc. Australian umpire Hair's decisions, in particular, were debatable and went against Pakistan and spoiled their thrust for victory in the second Test.
On the first day, England's Ian Bell caught and bowled Mohammad Yousuf, who was batting on 78 in a flawless innings. The umpires, despite Bell taking the low catch didn't bother to consult the third umpire. The TV replays clearly showed that Bell had picked up the ball from the ground but neither any action was taken against him nor PCB showed a proper reaction. This was a test for the ICC to show that their officials are not biased when it comes to enforcing penalties. One should remember that two years ago, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif was banned for five ODIs for comitting the same mistake.
On the second day of the Test, Pakistan captain Inzamam was given out run-out by the field umpires with Hair at the batting end after it was obvious to everyone that Inzamam was taking an evasive action when he played down a ball to Steve Harmison from his crease and the bowler threw a direct hit at the stumps. The ICC regulations state that a batsman cannot be run out if he is not attempting a run and takes evasive action to avoid bodily injury from his crease. |
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