LONDON, June 13: Inzamam-ul-Haq, Pakistan's captain at the World Cup, has spoken of the ‘nightmare’ he and his team endured after Jamaican police launched a murder investigation into the death of coach Bob Woolmer.

Inzamam, while relieved at that verdict, said nothing could erase the memory of what were the hardest days of his life.

“I am pleased to hear that Bob was not murdered,” Inzamam wrote in Wednesday's edition of Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

“All the boys will feel the same, as I'm sure his family will also. But this verdict will never take away one of the toughest periods in our lives. It was a nightmare,” the batsman explained.

“Those final 10 days in the Caribbean were the hardest of my life. We went through hell.

“I don't know what has happened there but I can tell you it wasn't good for the players or for Pakistan cricket.

“It was hard and painful enough to lose a good friend like Bob, as he was a great human being, but to then be caught up in a murder investigation was very, very difficult for all of us.”

“And, as captain, I probably felt the pressure most. I was one of the few who saw Bob lying in his room and it was very upsetting. We had become close as captain and coach over the three years he had spent with the Pakistan team.

“We felt at times as though people were pointing the finger at us and that was not fair. It was unbelievable, not right.”

Inzamam, who has had a two-month break from cricket, retired from one-dayers at the World Cup and the captaincy has since passed to Shoaib Malik.

However, the 37-year-old right-hander remains a Test player and he is looking to extend his impressive record in the five-day game which has so far seen him score 8,813 runs at an average of more than 50 in 119 matches with 25 hundreds.

“Now I'm mentally focused and feeling refreshed,” Inzamam said.

“I'm aware that I need a few runs to pass Javed Miandad to become Pakistan's highest run-scorer, but I'm looking further ahead than that. I want to score at least another thousand Test runs and get to 10,000.

“The summer that Pakistan has coming up later in the year is all the motivation I need, with tough series against South Africa at home, India in India and then Australia at home.

“Hopefully, the selectors will feel that my experience will be useful to the team. Insha Allah.”—AFP