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| October 10, 2002 | Thursday | Sha’aban 3, 1423 |
Uncle’s boots still too big for Faisal
SHARJAH (UAE), Oct 9: Pakistan’s new batting hero Faisal Iqbal bears a stark resemblence to his uncle Javed Miandad. He is cheeky, brave, and loves to bait the Australians.
But there is where the similarities end. Faisal, son of Miandad’s eldest sister, laughs off any comparisons with the legendary Pakistani batsman and captain.
“I have always idolised my uncle and want to be like the man I have watched with envy from childhood,” Faisal told AFP in an interview.
“But I still have a long way to go, his shoes are too big for me.”
Miandad, Pakistan’s leading run-getter with 8,832 from 124 Tests, could not inspire his two younger brothers, Anwar and Sohail, to play Test cricket.
But young Faisal finally came into his own last week when he hit a gutsy 83 off 85 balls in Pakistan’s first innings of the first Test against Australia in Colombo.
The knock was not enough to save Pakistan from a 41-run defeat, but established Faisal as a batsman whom the Australians will not take lightly.
“He has it in him to go far,” said Australia’s champion leg-spinner Shane Warne after the first Test.
Just as Miandad would try and seize the advantage from the start with cheeky strokes, Faisal welcomed Warne with a lofted hit back over the bowler’s head.
He went on to hit 16 boundaries, and was last man out for 39 in the second innings after running out of partners.
It was more that what captain Waqar Younis could expect from a 21-year-old playing only his sixth Test.
“There’s a lot of Javed in Faisal,” said former Pakistani opener Aamir Sohail, who played a lot with the master.
Comparisons were inevitable and when Faisal stepped on the field to represent Pakistan in the Under-15 World Cup in England in 1996, he was tipped to be another Miandad.
“I was seven when Javed uncle gave me my first bat, and since then I have learnt all my cricket from him,” Faisal said.
“He taught me to occupy the crease and stressed that runs would come as long as I kept my cool out there in the middle.”
Faisal hit a fighting half-century against the touring Australians in a three-day game in Karachi in 1998-99 which earned a few tips from the elegant Aussie right-hander Mark Waugh.
It was rumoured that Faisal was kept away from the Pakistani team by people out to settle scores with Miandad.
But the old man was not concerned. “I know Faisal has talent and its upto him to perform so that no one can stop him,” Miandad once said.—AFP
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