You can ‘bat’ on it!
The daggers are drawn again! Pakistan cricket team’s recent drubbing at the hands of England in limited overs has seen the team slip to the eighth position in ODI and sixth in T20 format. Not only that, many former cricketers have been heard saying that there is a dearth of new talent in Pakistan cricket, especially batting talent. Astonishingly, a country which has produced top class batsmen like Hanif Mohammad, Zaheer Abbas, Majid Khan, Javed Miandad, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, and Younis Khan in the past is facing a block in this major department of the game.
Having talent or rather no talent is one thing, but to waste potential talent is another matter altogether. In the recent past there have been quite a few cases in which potential talent, a talent which could have reached another level of excellence was ruthlessly wasted in Pakistan cricket by the authorities or an individual himself. Let’s look at some of the batsmen who were spotted as raw talent, but never nurtured to be recognised as great talent in the world of cricket.
Mohammad Wasim was one of the few cricketers to reach the three-figure mark on his debut. He made 109 not out in the second innings against New Zealand at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore in 1996, when he was only 19 years old. Wasim was ‘a product of the system’, a phrase seldom used for a Pakistani cricketer. He was groomed as the future captain of a country. As a youngster he was lucky enough to be the member of a team which played under Wasim Akram’s captaincy, and he learnt a great deal.
What’s stopping talented batsmen from making it to the Pakistan cricket team?
In 1997, he was selected in the ODI squad to play in series in Australia, but many believed that he was not a good hooker and puller of the ball so he would fail in Australian conditions. On the contrary, he proved his critics wrong by displaying brilliant wrist work on Australian pitches. In one of the matches, he faced mighty Warne and McGrath with ease when his team mates were falling like ninepins in Adelaide. He made 44 in that lost cause of a match. Wasim wanted to stay neat and was unable to cope with the on and off field pressures of international cricket, which eventually brought his career to an abrupt end.
Yasir Hameed announced his arrival on the world stage with a bang. Although, at the time he was making his debut, Bangladesh was considered a minnow, but his two 100s in his maiden Test was not a small feat. He made 170 in the first and 105 in the second innings. He was a stylish opener, a rare commodity these days. His batting style reminded one of Mohsin Khan.