The year was 1992. It was the semifinal of the World Cup, and Pakistan needed 153 from 15 overs to win, when an inexperienced 22 year old appeared at the crease. All hope was lost. But then this young talent produced a magnificent innings and made 60 off just 37 balls to shoot Pakistan to victory and into the finals.
This man, now legend, was none other than our own Inzi; A batsman like no other for Pakistan, and maybe even the world.
This match winning ability was displayed over and over again by this amazing batsman in ODIs and more so in test matches.
This is why Wisden has declared Inzimam ul Haq as:
- The highest impact batsman in the world in the new millennium till date.
- The highest impact batsman from Asia in Test cricket history.
Studying conventional batting averages of batsmen in matches won, Inzi is right up there after the great Bradman. Yes, Inzamam sits comfortably at number two with an average of 78 in 49 matches won. Below are some more numbers to show how important he was to Pakistani Cricket:
Number | Name | Matches | Batting Impact | SDs | Runs Tally Impact | Pressure Impact | Failure Rate (in %) |
1 | Inzamam-ul-Haq | 118 | 2.62 | 7 | 1.78 | 0.29 | 42 |
2 | Saeed Anwar | 54 | 2.55 | 2 | 1.84 | 0.18 | 43 |
3 | Javed Miandad | 123 | 2.44 | 5 | 1.54 | 0.25 | 43 |
4 | Younis Khan | 88 | 2.31 | 3 | 1.62 | 0.28 | 42 |
5 | Mohammad Yousuf | 89 | 2.06 | 1 | 1.63 | 0.26 | 38 |
*SD=Series defining
The Inzi Impact
Before I move on, I would like to explain what series defining means…
“The series-defining performance is the true legacy of a player in this system (this is a high impact performance in a match that enables the player’s team to win or draw level the series or – less often – change the momentum in a in a series; it is also awarded to performances in other series where a player dominates more emphatically in 2 matches or more against a strong team.)”
So we know he is the highest impact batsmen from Asia EVER, but what about series defining, was he?
Oh yes he was! He was so “series defining” that he has the highest number of series defining performances in test match history ever, alongside Rahul Dravid. Both have seven each.
But if you look at the stats closely, you will notice that Inzi achieved this feat in only 120 matches compared to 164 by Rahul Dravid. And if you look more closely, you will note that Inzi has one SD as a captain & batsman making him “the biggest series-winning batsman in Test history”.
Inzi has dominated Pakistani and world cricket in so many ways, in some cases like no other, but it is sad to see that sometimes he is not given the respect and credit that he deserves, especially in Pakistan.
Inziman Bhai… We are proud of you! You are great!
Besides all this, I like his character.
Sir Younis Khan a greatest player produced by Pakistan.
Sir inzamam-ul-haq a greatest player produced by pakistan
inzamam is our proud. he is great ever batsman.
i like inzi Bhai.i wnt he can be a head couch of Pakistan team nd waseem Bhai bowling couch thn u gona see Pakistani team ll go up.
Really really a great and greater batsman in the world historical batsman I like him very much
I like Inzimam.He is the best player of history.
Inzi Bhai A Living Legend…
Salute to him
Yes you are very right. there is no doubt he is a great cricketer ever produced by Pakistan and similarly the game of Cricket may also be proud to have such player in its history.
In my point of view he did not apply himself fully as much as he had the ability due to some reasons. Firstly he was not a greedy person who likes to calculate or make records and secondly our own PCB did not utilize him as it should be.