Tribute to Inzamam Ul Haq for 50th birthday on March 3rd,2020

[Harsh Thakor]

I apologize to the cricket world that I forgot to pay a tribute to the batting genius,Inzamam Ul Haq on his 50th birthday earlier this year on March 3rd.His name carves a permanent niche in cricket's hall of fame and his deeds embedded in our minds forever.On his day he could simply sit besides the gods of Olympus.Take this for my tribute to Inzy's completing half -century.


Few batsmen ever posessed more reserves of natural talent or better reflexes. than Inzamam Ul Haq.Arguably he posessed flair in the Tendulkar or Lara class.No batsmen of his era tackled express pace bowling with such remorseless ease or effortlessness like a shepherd tending his flock.He shaped games in tune with circumstances like no other batsman of his time like an actor doing perfect justice to character .His presence could have had a greater bearing on his taem;s fortunes than even Tendulkar or Lara.Very hard visualizing even a modern great eclipsing Inzamam's 60 in a run chase in the 1992 semi-final which resurrected Pakistan from the depths of despair to reach pinnacle of glory,like a total reversal in a Hollywood plot.I doubt earlier a Majid Khan or Zaheer Abbas could overshadow it.He did not posess the finesse of a Lara or Laxman or the technical correctness or compactness of Tendulkar or Dravid but in full flow he could surpass them all for sheer impetuosity or flamboyance..At his best Inzy took batting domination to regions of the sublime,giving echoes of the great Viv Richards in reducing oponents to complete submission.I doubt any of them could destroy short pitched bowling with such disdain a Inzy who held bat like a bludgeon.Arguably when a team had it's back to the wall Inzy had more nerves than Tendulkar or Sehwag.Inzamam blended the talent of a musician with the determination of a soldier.In the nets he may have been almost as hard to bowl to as Viv Richards.I feel the cricket world missed a possible spectacle of Inzy tackling the great Carribean pace quartet of the 1980's.


Inzy was the supreme match-winner of his day surpassing Tendulkar,Lara and Ponting with his average of 78 in games won and with 68% of his centuries in winning causes.His batting gave a greater assurance towards a victory or more of an impetus to his team members for a winning cause than even Sachin or Lara.He also fashioned many a successful ODI run chase revealing more prowess in giving the final finishing touches than even Tendulkar.Only VVS Laxman surpassed Inzy's ability in batting with the tail.No batsmen negotiated Ambrose and Walsh at home or away as Inzamam who averaged over 57 against them in the Carribean.Inzy exhibited greater flourish facing Walsh and Ambrose than Sachin or Dravid.At his best arguably to win a game Inzy was the ultimate man of his hour.On Seaming tracks in England he averaged around 42 which is commendable and over 50 in New Zealand .Inzy's batting played a major role in Pakistan's victory in the 1992 world cup and reaching the final of the 1999 world cup.A test average of around 50 speaks for itself .From 2000-2006 he averaged over 60 which speaks volumes of his consistency.I can never forget his unbeaten 138 against Bangladesh at Multan in 2003 where in a last wicket stand he enabled Pakistan to pull of a miraculous victory and his batting in a home series in 2005 that turned the tide of the series against unofficial test champions,England.It is also significant that his presence enabled Pakistan to draw a series against one of the strongest Indian sides in India itself,and triumph in the one day series.At his best Inzy could be the ultimate one to pull of fa Houdini act.To ressurect a team from the grave to reach depths of glory I would fancy Inzy at his best,more than Tendulkar or Dravid.

What went against Inzamam was his relative failure versus Australia and South Africa home and away and his performance as a skipper.Inzy gave only occasional flashes of brilliance against them like a spark extinguishing to the brim but fading away quickly.Ofcoures he played one or 2 gems like his 95 in 1994 in South Africa and his 88 at Hobart in 1999-2000 where he took the quickest pacemen to the sword.He also resembled a tortoise when running between the wickets.It is also noteworthy that in his peak Pakistan cricket never reached its height of ascendancy it had attained in yesteryears or laurels under Mushtaq Muhammad or Imran Khan.To me his causal approach did little help to his extraordinary natural ability and often he could look aloof or astray.



How did Inzamam compare with the all-time great batsmen?Amongst international batsmen to me he joined the club of a David Gower, Colin Cowdrey, VVS Laxman,Mark Waugh,Ted Dexter,Martin Crowe,Virendra Sehwag etc who were outstanding but just missed the cut of being classed with greats like Viv, Sachin,Lara,Kohli or Gavaskar. Amongst Pakistani batsmen Miandad and Younus rank ahead because of greater consistency or durability. In recent years Inzy's closest rivals were VVS Laxman and Kevin Pieterson ,being very difficult to seperate them.In pure abilty Inzy may have ranked amongts the top dozen batsmen of all time.I feel unfairly cricket experts have denied Inzy a place amongst the pantheon of the 100 greatest cricketers of all time.

I end this work saluting Inzamam for retiring being just on the brink of surpassing Javed Miandad's run segregate of 8832 runs.This was a perfect illustration of his dedication to the cause of his team as a whole and non -pursuit of personal glory .This was in contrast to greats like Gavaskar or Tendulkar and in line with Rahul Dravid.Pertinent that Shoaib Akhtar, the quickest pace bowler ever stated that Inzy was the best batsmen he ever bowled to .It is hypothetical if Inzy may have been an even greater batsmen had he played for a team like Australia,with the bouncy pitches suiting his style.With the temperament of a Virat Kolhli he could well have been close to being the best batsmen of all time.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Harsh Thakor

[Nikola]

In before you call me to come over here, I think he was in between great and very good batsman. As kid i used to fear him alot for his performance against us.

[Harsh Thakor]

3 minutes ago, Nikola said:

In before you call me to come over here, I think he was in between great and very good batsman. As kid i used to fear him alot for his performance against us.

Appreciate your balanced ,analytical reply.Close to Lara or Tendulkar?Better against express pace?As a match-winner best of his time?

[Nikola]

2 minutes ago, Harsh Thakor said:

Appreciate your balanced ,analytical reply.Close to Lara or Tendulkar?Better against express pace?As a match-winner best of his time?

Sorry i didn't understand game alot when he used to play but more of amla/clarke range of batsman maybe bit better than both but he was not in tendulkar/lara tier.

[Harsh Thakor]

Kindly come here @Ankit_sharma03  @raki05 @cricspin please come here thanks apppreciate

Edited June 9, 2020 by Harsh Thakor

[Gollum]

Express pace, bouncy pitches and Inzi, ghanta. Stop insulting Sachin, Lara, Ponting...

 

121 innings across formats against RSA/Aus....1 century and avg just above 30 in each format LINK 1 LINK 2 Worst Indian batsman in history would do better than that if given 120+ chances against those 2 sides. 

 

Open this on green ghetto, they might throw some love your way. Don't try rewriting history on ICF.

 

 

 

[Straight Drive]

He is hyped because Pakistan has had a very bad record of producing world class batsmen. If he played for successful cricket teams like India, Australia or England he would have been just one of the many good batsmen that these nations produced. He was a good batsmen but not in top 15 batsmen even of his time.

[Laaloo]

What kind of options are those?

[Harsh Thakor]

1 hour ago, Laaloo said:

What kind of options are those?

What do you mean?please verify

[Harsh Thakor]

5 hours ago, Gollum said:

Express pace, bouncy pitches and Inzi, ghanta. Stop insulting Sachin, Lara, Ponting...

 

121 innings across formats against RSA/Aus....1 century and avg just above 30 in each format LINK 1 LINK 2 Worst Indian batsman in history would do better than that if given 120+ chances against those 2 sides. 

 

Open this on green ghetto, they might throw some love your way. Don't try rewriting history on ICF.

 

 

 

batted like a champion against Walsh and Ambrose and played a major role in Pkaistan winning and securing a runner up berth in a world cup.Alan Donald rated Inzy amongst the 5 best he ever bowled to.

[Harsh Thakor]

3 hours ago, Straight Drive said:

He is hyped because Pakistan has had a very bad record of producing world class batsmen. If he played for successful cricket teams like India, Australia or England he would have been just one of the many good batsmen that these nations produced. He was a good batsmen but not in top 15 batsmen even of his time.

Inspite of his staggering record in test wins?better avergae than Lara or Tendulkar in them.

[Laaloo]

19 minutes ago, Harsh Thakor said:

What do you mean?please verify

Where is the option for no?

[Harsh Thakor]

2 minutes ago, Laaloo said:

Where is the option for no?

It is above-for not great but very good sir?do check.

[Norman]

13 hours ago, Harsh Thakor said:

It is above-for not great but very good sir?do check.

I think he meant for "not even good". 

[Straight Drive]

15 hours ago, Harsh Thakor said:

Inspite of his staggering record in test wins?better avergae than Lara or Tendulkar in them.

 

Test averages:

Tendulkar-53.78

Lara -52.88

Inzamam Haq- 49.60

 

 

Adam Voges has average 61, but even that does not makes him better than Lara orTendulkar.

 

Inzamam was a good batsman but nowhere near the quality of Lara or Tendulkar.

[Jimmy Cliff]

Very good batsman but maybe not quite an ATG overall. But he sure knew how to make his runs count. Averages a whopping 85 in Tests won against non-minnows. Had 31 50+ scores in the 36 Tests that Pakistan won against the top 7 sides. That ratio is only bettered by Bradman and Smith IIRC.

[Gollum]

3 minutes ago, Jimmy Cliff said:

Very good batsman but maybe not quite an ATG overall. But he sure knew how to make his runs count. Averages a whopping 85 in Tests won against non-minnows. Had 31 50+ scores in the 36 Tests that Pakistan won against the top 7 sides. That ratio is only bettered by Bradman and Smith IIRC.

Stop agreeing with OP 

[Jimmy Cliff]

11 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Stop agreeing with OP 

Well I am not buying into the mythology (mainly spread by Kaali Dal) about Inzy being the besht player of pace but the *er was damn good at making his runs count. I don't recall a truly out of the world match-winning performance by him in Tests (the closest would be his 92* against RSA in 2007) but whenever Pakistan won, he was almost always up there as one of the main contributors.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Jimmy Cliff

[maniac]

He was a very good odi player absolutely. Can put him in the 2nd tier category of ATG in that format only.

 

Overall I would say good player but not an  ATG.  I will pick the 2nd category great but not an ATG but I think the word should be “good”

instead of “great”

[Harsh Thakor]

On 6/11/2020 at 12:13 AM, Jimmy Cliff said:

Very good batsman but maybe not quite an ATG overall. But he sure knew how to make his runs count. Averages a whopping 85 in Tests won against non-minnows. Had 31 50+ scores in the 36 Tests that Pakistan won against the top 7 sides. That ratio is only bettered by Bradman and Smith IIRC.

Analytical reply,appreciate.