Inzamam-ul-Haq, even in his prime, seemed to do everything slowly. But even then, while batting, he seemed to have a lot of time on hands. ...
Inzamam-ul-Haq, even in his prime, seemed to do everything slowly. But even then, while batting, he seemed to have a lot of time on hands. When he retired in 2007, he was Pakistan’s second-highest Test run-scorer behind Javed Miandad.
Inzamam’s career ended with him just three runs behind Javed Miandad, who was Pakistan’s leading run-scorer in Test cricket. Miandad retired having made 8832 runs in Test cricket from 189 innings, whilst Inzamam finished on 8829 runs from 198 innings.
But while Miandad was a maverick, streetsmart cricket, Inzamam’s batting oozed pure class. There was a lazy elegance to it that sometimes made batting look effortless. For a big guy, he never quite used brute force to smash the ball away. He always relied on timing.
Since his retirement, Pakistan have struggled to find a player of his caliber and while Babar Azam has put his hand up, he still has a while to go before he can match Inzamam’s consistency.
As Inzamam turns 50 today, here’s a look at a video of former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan narrating the hilarious story of he convinced the Pakistan selectors to pick the young batsman:
Having got him for the 1992 World Cup, Khan...
