Inzamam inspires UAE captain

Sharjah: He hails from Multan, an old city in Pakistan that can boast of the likes of Inzamam Ul Haq, one of Pakistan's greatest batsmen.

Saqib Ali, the present UAE cricket team captain grew up wanting to emulate Inzamam, his childhood hero.

Little wonder then that he too began by playing for Siberia Cricket Club, the same team that Inzamam played as a boy.

It was Inzamam's brilliant knocks for the Siberia Club that drew the attention of the United Bank and Karachi Cricket Association and earned him the opportunity to play first class cricket. Ali too scored heavily for Siberia and was also coached by Inzamam's first coach and maternal uncle Javed Ilyas.

By the time Ali was ten, Inzamam had already become a hero having played for Pakistan in the 1988 Junior World Cup. Soon Inzamam shifted to Lahore to improve his game, but youngsters like Ali still continued visiting Ghanta Gar, a by-lane from where their hero began playing cricket, to get inspired.

Inzamam's make-shift stumps on the walls there are still preserved by the locals as a mark of respect for the legend.

Century

Ali turned into a prolific scorer and like Inzamam was first selected into the Multan Under-19 team and subsequently to the Pakistan Under-19 team.

"I toured New Zealand with some of Pakistan Test stars like Saqlain Mushtaq, Azhar Mahmood, and Rana Naveed Ul Hassan," said Ali, who on return went on to even score a double century in Pakistan's domestic cricket.

"Although I scored a 204 for Multan against the strong Karachi team in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, I failed to get any more breaks," laments Ali.

Like many young Pakistan cricketers who struggle to meet ends despite their talent, Ali too left Pakistan in search of a job.

"In 1997, I came to Abu Dhabi and New Medical Centre offered me a job. Right in the first tournament I got a century for NMC in the Sony Cup," recalled Ali, who is now 29-years-old.

It was only after eight years that he got a call into the UAE team when he finally made his debut for UAE against Namibia at Windhoek in December 2006. Within a year he went on to become the captain. Ali has hit three hundreds and two fifties for UAE at an average of 49.

"My dream is to play in the 2011 World Cup," he says, but before that in June he is likely to lead UAE in the Asia Cup against Pakistan. "It will be a great moment and that too to play against some of them who played with me in the Under-19 team but went on to become Test stars," noted Ali nostalgically.