Abu Dhabi: Pakistan chief of selectors Inzamam-ul-Haq will be smiling, for his nephew Imam-ul-Haq justified his selection with an imposing ton on his debut.
Plenty of eyebrows raised and fingers pointed when Imam was named in the Pakistan One Day International squad for the five-match series against Sri Lanka. Many accused Inzamam of abuse of power and giving way to nepotism in Pakistan cricket.
The only way Imam could have silenced his detractors, who were looking to finish him off even before his career has kick-started, was to let his willow do the talking.
With injury to Azhar Ali, he was drafted into the squad and following Ahmad Shehzad’s repeated failure at the top, the baton was passed on to Imam in the third ODI. With so much pressure already around his selection, even the best of talents the world has seen would have got a cold feet — but not Imam. The 21-year-old was clearly on a mission and immediately proved he had inherited the same cool head on his shoulder as the legendary Inzamam.
Imam, who in this age of quality contact lenses still sports an old fashioned frame, from ball one gave enough evidence that he rightfully belonged to the big arena. Playing a sheet anchor role in the chase of 209 en route to his 125-ball 100, he became only the second Pakistan player after Saleem Elahi (102 not out against Sri Lanka in 1995) to register a century on debut.
“I’m very proud about it,” said a beaming Imam. “Honestly, I didn’t know about that record. Once I had gone back to the dressing room Sarfraz (Ahmad) told me. Great feeling to score a hundred on debut. It’s a proud moment for me, very happy to do it for Pakistan.”
Wednesday’s encounter would have certainly kept Inzamam on the edge of his seat as he had vociferously defended his nephew’s selection, saying it was purely on form. Inzamam had reasoned that Imam was picked due to his consistent performance in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and the two hundreds he scored for the Under-23 team in the triangular tournament in Bangladesh.
Iman too accepted that with a lot of talk going around, he was trying hard to let it not bother him but knew it will all be put to rest once he would put up a noteworthy performance.
“It makes no difference to me because I have grown up in a cricketing family. I had self-belief and I’m mature. I have played in Junior World Cups and have performed well in domestic matches. My best answer is to perform. If I don’t perform then people will criticise,” said Imam adding all his pressure was put to rest once he landed in the UAE and started training with the team for four-five days.
“When I got everyone’s support I got relaxed. Mickey Arthur, Sarfraz bhai all supported me a lot and that put me at ease,” said Imam, who had the experience of playing here in the UAE after having figured in the Under-19 World Cup in 2014, where he was among runs when Pakistan made it to the semis.
And as they say, fortune favours the brave, there was also a moment when Imam almost thought he had muffed the opportunity to score a century on debut. A faint nick off Dushmantha Chameera when on 89, settled into the gloves of Niroshan Dickwella and Imam was walking back shaking his head. Review confirmed that Dickwella had grassed it and Imam thanked his fortunes.
“Obviously it was a bad feeling,” he said. “I was on debut so I didn’t look at the ball. I knew that I had nicked it so I thought it’s out but Sarfraz (Ahmad) signalled that the ball had not carried.”
He added that Mohammad Hafeez was also of huge support as he was inching towards the landmark.
“I will give credit to Hafeez as I was having cramps he told me that ‘I will beat you if you get out by playing a stupid shot’, so he was supporting me. Even in the field he was saying that ‘I’m feeling that you will score a hundred’. Again when he came to bat he told me that I should not go without scoring a hundred,” said Imam, who also attributed the success to his father who has been a great influence in shaping his career and reminisced how he supported him to bunk school against the will of his mother who was dead against him playing cricket.
