Pakistan's Imam-ul-Haq tries to take a catch during the ICC Cricket World Cup group stage match at Lord's, London. (Photo by Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images) Imam-ul-Haq of Pakistan Makes a Name for Himself. With centuries in both innings against Australia in the first Test. Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq has lifted some of the burden of being the nephew of a legend.
With centuries in both innings against Australia in the first Test. Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq lifted some of the burden of being the nephew of a legend. Imam’s uncle is former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, but his performance in the drawn Rawalpindi Test has earned him recognition in his own right. Despite the fact that the pitch was a batting-friendly flat track. Imam had to maintain extreme concentration and discipline to post scores of 157 and 111 not out. In doing so, he became Pakistan’s tenth batsman to score a century in each innings of a Test. And only the fourth against Australia, trailing former captains Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, and Azhar Ali.
His performance will not only solidify his place in Pakistan’s Test team. But will also silence a slew of critics who have pounced on him after every failure.
The criticism usually revolves around the idea that he only has a place in the side because of his family name.
“I don’t care what people say here and there, and I never lose heart,” Imam said after his maiden Test century on Friday.
Also Visit: Sunil Gavaskar discusses why Mayank Agarwal should be chosen over Shubman Gill.
Imam-ul-Haq: “I want to take on new challenges and succeed.”
Imam’s journey has not been easy, despite his status as cricket royalty.
His uncle is Pakistan’s third-highest Test run-scorer, with 8,830 runs, and the most prolific one-day international run-scorer, with 11,701.
Despite obvious natural talent, Imam is label “parchi” (an Urdu term for someone given undue favoritism). which was exacerbated by the fact that he was chosen for the first time in 2018 when his uncle was the chief selector.
Most fans agreed that Imam had the game, but was nepotism at work?
The bespectacled Imam was Pakistan’s leading run-scorer in the 2014 Under-19 World Cup, which Pakistan lost in the final, scoring 382 runs in six games.
He also performed well in an A Series against Bangladesh before scoring 848 points in 11 domestic matches in 2016-17.
Inzamam insisted that he was not playing family favorites, claiming that his nephew was chosen on the advice of coaches Mickey Arthur and Grant Flower.
“Mickey and Grant came to me and stress that they want him on the team, so he was only chose after that,” he explain at the time.
The youngster made an immediate impact, scoring a century in his first ODI against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi in 2017.
In 2018, he scored a match-winning 74 not out against Ireland, with Pakistan trailing 14-3 and chasing 160.
While Imam’s ODI form continued to improve,. His Test fortunes deteriorated, and he was drop after failing in Australia in 2019.
But, after two hundreds in domestic cricket, Imam returned to the fold – and made the opportunity count in Rawalpindi.
“Every time I fail, they started trolling me, but I’m determine to answer with my bat, with my runs,” he said.
“I want to be able to call myself by my own name.”
Also Read: Shreyas Iyer and Mithali Raj are both nominated for the ICC’s “Player of the Month” award.