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| November 26, 2005 | Saturday | Shawwal 22, 1426 |
Key to Pakistan revival: Imran
LAHORE, Nov 25: Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan on Friday was all praise for Inzamamul Haq, saying the current skipper had played a major role in reviving the country’s fortunes in international cricket.
“Inzamam has revived the team’s fortunes and, the way he batted in the second Test, he has proved he is the best batsman under pressure,” Imran said.
Inzamam hit a century in each innings of the second Test at Faisalabad which ended in a draw on Thursday.
Inzamam, who has so far played 104 Tests, is now 877 short of surpassing Miandad’s Pakistani record of 8,832 runs 124 matches.
Imran said Inzamam was a better batsman than even West Indian Brian Lara and India’s Sachin Tendulkar when it came to batting under pressure.
“No batsman in modern era, including Lara and Tendulkar, can play better than Inzamam when the chips are down,” said Imran.
Inzamam rose to fame under Imran’s captaincy, playing a vital role in his team’s 1992 World Cup triumph in Australia.
Imran, who criticised Inzamam’s captaincy during Pakistan’s tour of Australia early this year, said things had changed as the current captain was now playing a more active role.
“What I said has been proved correct. Inzamam needs to lead from the front. He has become a more active captain with the tour of India and is improving with each match,” said Imran, who played 82 Tests for Pakistan.
The Inzamam-led Pakistan upset all calculations by levelling a three-Test series 1-1 against India early this year before winning the one-day series 4-2.
Imran said England were thrown off balance in the first Test after missing their captain Michael Vaughan through a knee injury.
“Inzamam took full advantage of Vaughan’s absence in Multan and that has proved decisive in the series,” Imran said.
“Pakistan need to put more pressure on England rather than going defensive,” he said, adding Inzamam had handled his bowlers well in the first two matches,” he said.—AFP
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