Friday, March 23, 2007

A tribute to the world's worst runner

I don’t remember ever being this emotional about a player retiring. Maybe because in Pakistani cricket you hardly ever get to see a player choosing to retire before the board forcefully shortens his career; therefore never giving an opportunity to the player for one last hurrah before an appreciative crowd. Or maybe because it’s been two losses too many in the space of a couple of days. Or it could be due to the fact that Inzy was a damn good player. I guess it would be all of these reasons, plus many, many more.

I can’t even imagine the Pakistan team without Inzamam. I started watching cricket with the 92 world cup, as did so many other people of my generation, and up till now Inzy has been a permanent fixture in Pakistan cricket. Over time we’ve all appreciated his pulls over midwicket to the fast bowlers, or his coming-down-the-track to the slower ones, or probably most of all, his running (or rather lack of it) between the wickets. His calm and composed approach both on and off the field (save for one incident in Toronto) has won him both critics and admirers.

He was no Imran Khan when it came to captaincy, but he still was a good captain. Yes, there were a few negatives, but there were some great positives too. After a very long time Inzamam was able to create a dressing room environment that was free from all politics. This, I believe, would be his standout achievement as captain. Everyone in the team respected him as a leader. I also think he handled the Oval fiasco very well under the circumstances, regardless of what the general opinion is. He stood for what he believed, and that again is a sign of good leadership.

Well his retirement has only been from the one day arena but I can’t help but wonder if he might call it quits from all forms of the game. Pakistan is scheduled to play its next test series in December this year so that would be an awful amount of time before Inzy could get to play again. I just hope he hangs in there a little more. Finally, thank you Inzy for 16 marvelous years of sheer entertainment, and I hope you still remain a part of Pakistan cricket in some way or the other.

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