Rashid Latif: “No one was ready to accept that Inzamam was a good player. People used to call him a parchi”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Rashid Latif said no one accepted that ex-captain Inzamam-ul-Haq was a good player.
Latif noted that “people used to call him a parchi”, but all that changed when Pakistan took on New Zealand in the semi-final of the 1992 World Cup.
Inzamam was named Man of the Match for smashing 60 runs off 37 balls, which included seven boundaries and a six, to lead Pakistan to a four-wicket win over New Zealand.
After defeating New Zealand, Pakistan went on to beat England in the final by 22 runs to win their first-ever World Cup.
To this day, it remains their one and only World Cup win.
“Inzamam and Mushtaq Ahmed used to play with me in United Bank Limited [UBL]. Inzamam first had to prove himself in street cricket,” Latif said in a YouTube video as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
“No one was ready to accept that Inzamam was a good player. People used to call him a parchi but we had seen him play in UBL. The semi-final in 1992 changed his career overnight and he took Pakistan into the final by beating New Zealand.”
Inzamam accumulated 8,830 runs in 120 Tests, which included 25 centuries and 46 fifties, at an average of 49.60.
He also amassed 11,739 runs in 378 ODIs, which included 10 hundreds and 83 half-centuries, at an average of 39.52.
As for his T20 International career, he made an unbeaten 11 in the one match he played.
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