Inzamam-ul-Haq: “I am going to talk about a player who was the hero of all batsmen when I was playing cricket. I am taking about Miandad. He was the best player Pakistan ever produced at least in terms of batting”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Former Pakistan captain and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq believes Javed Miandad is the best batsman the country has ever produced.
Inzamam’s heaped praise on Miandad when he was recalling a time where the 62-year-old was willing to step up as a batsman despite being the national team’s head coach.
Inzamam noted when Pakistan were touring New Zealand, a few players had sustained injuries and it was tough to get a replacement to New Zealand in quick time.
As a result, Miandad offered to play as a batsman if need be.
“He had never shied away from batting at any age. Even if someone asks him to bat today, he will say yes. He was the coach and I was the captain during a series against New Zealand and some of our players got injured. New Zealand is far, so getting a fast replacement was very hard,” Inzamam said in a YouTube video as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
“When I came out of the nets and was in the dressing room, he [Miandad] came to me and said ‘a batsman is absolutely ready to play if you don’t have enough batsmen’. I asked who it was, and he replied ‘me’. I said ‘Javed bhai you have seen the conditions of the pitch and it has been so long since you played’. He said don’t worry about me I will play. I said ‘if you want to play then you will have to bat in the nets first’ and before I could take off my gear he was ready to bat. He had this phenomenal confidence in his batting.
“I am going to talk about a player who was the hero of all batsmen when I was playing cricket. I am taking about Miandad. He was the best player Pakistan ever produced at least in terms of batting. I have played with him for four to five years as a player and then also as a coach. He had a strong belief in himself which made him so great.
“I once talked to Mushtaq Mohammad, he told me when they went to Australia when Miandad was a youngster, where batsmen feared going top of the order Miandad was always eager to go out to bat and had a fearless approach.
“He would sledge the best bowlers in the world. Usually, bowlers sledged to get batsmen off their rhythm but Miandad turned it around. He was a big match player and rose to every occasion. He didn’t let players know how hard the situation [was] while playing a calculated knock.”
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