Saturday, September 12, 2009

Inzamam-Ul-Haq



Inzamam-ul-haq


Inzamam-ul-Haq (born 3 March 1970) is a Pakistani cricketer. He is considered to be one of Pakistan’s best batsmen.He is currently the captain of the Pakistani team.Test Debut: Pakistan v England at Birmingham, 1st Test, 1992. His career highlights are:

Scoring 60 in 37 balls against New Zealand in the semifinal of the 1992 World Cup to win the match that was nearly lost.
Scoring 329 against New Zealand in Lahore during a Test in the 2001-02 season (the twelfth highest score by a batsman)
Scoring 138* to deny Bangladesh victory at Multan.
Becoming the second batsman to score 10,000 runs in one-day inernationals (behind Sachin Tendulkar)
Scoring 184 in his 100th Test, against India at Bangalore in 2005.

Inzamam ul-Haq is well-known for his poor running between the wickets (as of May 2005, he has been run out a record 38 times in one-day internationals) and his ability to play shots around the ground. He has been described as looking “like a passenger in the field”.

He averages just over 50 runs per innings in tests and nearly 40 runs in one-day internationals with a strike rate of 53.65 and 74.20 respectively (figures current as of May 2004). He is called the best batsmen in the world against pace by Imran Khan. Inzamam is a giant that has a very soft touch for a man of his bulk. He usually bats at number three with his sidekick Yousuf Youhana.

Inzamam-ul-Haq is a symbiosis of strength and subtlety. Power is no surprise, but sublime touch is remarkable for a man of his bulk. He loathes exercise and often looks a passenger in the field, but with a willow between his palms he is suddenly galvanised. He plays shots all round the wicket, is especially strong off his legs, and unleashes ferocious pulls and lofted drives. Imran Khan rates him the best batsman in the world against pace. Early on he is vulnerable playing across his front pad or groping outside off stump. He uses his feet well to the spinners, although this aggression can be his undoing. Inzi keeps a cool head in a crisis and has succeeded Javed Miandad as Pakistan's premier batsman, but his hapless running between wickets is legendary and most dangerous for his partners. There were no such problems against New Zealand at a boiling Lahore in 2001-02, when Inzamam belted 329, the second-highest Test score by a Pakistani and the tenth-highest by anyone. However, he was then dogged by poor form, scoring just 16 runs in Pakistan's ill-fated World Cup campaign in 2003. He was dropped from the team briefly, but then roared back to form, scoring a magnificent unbeaten 138 and guiding Pakistan to a thrilling one-wicket win against Bangladesh at Multan. He was rewarded with the captaincy of the team, and despite leading them to victory in the Test series in New Zealand, question-marks about his leadership qualities surfaced when Pakistan were beaten in both the Test series and the one-dayers against India. But the selectors persevered with him and this bore results when he took a team thin on bowling resources to India and drew the Test series with a rousing performance in the final Test, Inzamam's 100th. After scoring a magnificent 184, Inzamam lead the team astutely on a tense final day and took Pakistan to victory.

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