Inzamam-ul-Haq, also known as Inzy, is a former Pakistani cricketer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen Pakistan has produced. He is the leading run scorer for Pakistan in One-Day Cricket and second-highest run scorer for Pakistan in Test cricket, after Javed Miandad. He was the captain of the Pakistan team from 2003–07.
Career[]
Inzamam made his ODI debut in a home series against West Indies in 1991, and made a good start to his career by scoring 20 and 60 runs in two matches against. This was followed by 48, 60, 101, and 117 runs against Sri Lanka. Handpicked by former Pakistan captain Imran Khan for the 1992 Cricket World Cup, 22-year-old Inzamam was relatively unheard of before the tournament.
Inzamam rose to fame in the semi-final of the World Cup, in which he scored 60 off 37 balls against a strong New Zealand team. His strong batting performance also propelled Pakistan to victory in the final of the 1992 World Cup. He remained one of the team's leading batsmen throughout the decade in both Test and ODI cricket.
Inzamam made his Test debut in 1992 against England at Edgbaston. He had little opportunity to make an impact in that match – he was not out with a score of 8. However, in subsequent matches he demonstrated vulnerability against swing bowling which resulted in his being dropped for the final Test of the series after averaging a lowly 13.20 runs per innings. Pakistan went on to secure a famous win in the match, taking the series 2–1.
His Test career highlights include 329 against New Zealand in Lahore in the 2001–02 season, which is the second highest Test score by a Pakistani and the twelfth highest overall. He also scored a century (184 runs) in his 100th Test, becoming only the fifth player to do so (after Colin Cowdrey, Alec Stewart, Gordon Greenidge, Javed Miandad and Ricky Ponting).
In 2003, he was appointed captain of the Pakistan team. His tenure as captain ended after Pakistan's early exit from the 2007 Cricket World Cup. On 5 October 2007, Inzamam retired from international cricket following the second Test against South Africa, falling three runs short of Javed Miandad as Pakistan's leading run scorer in Test cricket.
Following his retirement, he joined the Indian Cricket League, captaining the Hyderabad Heroes in the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 competition. In the ICL's second edition, he captained the Lahore Badshahs, a team composed entirely of Pakistani cricketers.