Putting Multan on the map
I had a lot of interest in becoming a cricketer from a young age but what I was lacking was the self-belief that was necessary to go that extra mile. Before I played for Pakistan, there was no other cricketer from my city of birth, Multan, who had gone on to play for the country. So, it was difficult for me to imagine that I would be that player from Multan who could actually rise and represent the city at the international level. But thanks to the Almighty, some luck, lots of hard work, the love and support of many, and my passion for cricket, I was able to progress and to go on and play at the highest level for many years.
Inspired by Imran Khan
When I started playing cricket, the only Pakistani role model I looked up to was Imran Khan. He was the skipper at that time and an inspiration for many of us because of his skills and his aggressive style of leadership. Apart from Imran, the one other cricketer that I admired was Vivian Richards. I loved the way he took on the opposition and played a fearless brand of cricket against some of the top bowlers of all time. The way he handled himself on the field, his confidence and his body language were all things that I admired and wanted to emulate.
Learning from Javed Miandad's style of batting
Javed Miandad’s style of batting and the way he fashioned his innings and how he handled himself when faced with pressure and adversity on the field were qualities that I admired and learnt from. As a cricketer, I always felt that my learning never stopped and I always ensured that I picked up tips from many of the cricketers I played alongside and against. I felt that some of the key things that I learnt about the art of batting didn’t always come from the biggest names. But with Javed Miandad it was different, as he was our Head Coach as well for periods of time and what he taught me about playing in difficult circumstances is something that stayed with me forever.
Pace education
I always loved playing pace-bowling from an early age but that is because of a little-known fact about the house I grew up in. This was a fairly large property where my brothers and I would practice. We would take it in turn to face fast-bowling from close range to try and sharpen our reflexes with the ball fizzing past our nose quite often. So, my exposure to playing pace bowling started from an early age and even though I was the youngest in the family, my elder brothers would not hold back or go easy on me. They made sure they bowled at full pace from close range at me and that sort of exposure taught me to pick fast-bowlers length quickly and gave me an edge from a very young age.
Crisis of confidence and adapting on the big stage
The 1992 World Cup was my first major international tournament and playing in front of such huge crowds was a challenge in itself, and I suffered from nerves during the initial stages. At that time, I had a mental block and felt incapable of handling the pressure of playing at that level and had serious self-doubts. On top of that, playing on Australian pitches was a tough proposition and it’s a fact that many players from the sub-continent have found it very difficult to adjust to the pace and bounce there. For me, even though we had arrived a month in advance of the tournament, I still found it tough and it took me some time to come to terms and acclimatize to the local conditions. But as time went by, I started to find my feet and started to understand how to play in those conditions and got a good idea of the nature of the pitches in Australia. But having said all that, it had to be divine help that allowed me to do so well and play an important role in our wins in the Semi-Final, score some quick runs in the final and of course how can anyone forget the 48 runs I scored against South Africa where Jonty Rhodes famously ran me out. The fact is that with each match that I played, I was adapting to the conditions and my performances showed that improvement.
Obviously when things were not going well for me with the bat at the 1992 World Cup, there were a lot of doubts being thrown about my abilities and many back home suggesting I should not have been in the squad. I felt a little disappointed and down but Imran Khan always believed in not just me but the whole squad and I felt the faith in my ability was always there and that was crucial. Not one day did Imran Khan have doubts about my ability and his support was pivotal for my career. Without his support who knows where my career would have ended up.
The 1992 World Cup effect
Winning the 1992 World Cup was a huge achievement for all of us and to this day I have people coming up to me and praising me about some of my innings which is immensely satisfying, and I am sure I will recall those performances for the rest of my life. The fact is that the way we fought and performed in that tournament changed many of us as cricketers and men forever. Of course, people told us how good we were as players but I for one gained a huge boost to my self-belief and confidence. I now knew for sure that if I could perform at such a big tournament, there was no reason why I couldn’t do it in other international games as well. The benefit of winning the 1992 World Cup for the rest of my career was huge and immeasurable.
Facing up to the greats
West Indies and Australia in my view were the toughest opponents I faced particularly in the early ‘90s. The West Indies had not just very good but dangerous fast-bowlers and believe me when you thought about facing the likes of Courtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose and Ian Bishop the next day, sleep was really the last thing on your mind. And then you had the awesome fast-bowling line-up of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee and the threat of Shane Warne in a very professional Australian side. You had problems even breathing when thinking about facing them. Such was the quality of both these oppositions and to face them took a lot of courage and determination.
Most enjoyable innings
The innings that I enjoyed most and hold in great regard is where I was Man of the Match after I scored an unbeaten 90 against the West Indies in 1993 at Port of Spain, which was Pakistan’s first ODI win in the Caribbean. The other high-point in my career was the tour of India in 2005 where I was captain, and we won the One-Day series by a 4-2 margin and drew the Test series 1-1. Incidentally, the 3rd Test in Bangalore where I made 184 runs in the first innings was also my 100th Test. To have won the ODI series and drawn the Test series on Indian soil against our arch-rivals, and that too with a team that was considered much weaker than the opposition on paper, and with no legendary names on the roster was a huge achievement for the team and myself as skipper.
Greatest knocks
To choose one or two innings as your best after having scored over 20,000 runs in international cricket is a tough task. To some it’s the ’92 World Cup Semi-Final innings against New Zealand which was my greatest, but to me 90 not out in 1993 at Port of Spain stands out as the best. Conditions were tough and facing Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop was not for the faint-hearted. I was a batter who enjoyed seeing my team home and finishing the job so it was satisfying to remain not out and see my team home. Sometimes it’s not the volume of runs, but the quality of the runs that is key and that was certainly the case in Port of Spain.
Relishing the pressure cooker
Batting under pressure always gave me immense enjoyment. In fact, the more tense the match situation, the more I enjoyed it. Some crumble under pressure, but others thrive and I guess I was one of those players who could perform when it mattered most and when my team needed me to. It didn’t matter what the stage of the game was, I was always up for the challenge. I felt that the second innings of a Test where I had to farm the innings, many times batting with tailenders was where I could control the game the most. A few times junior players would ask me how I remained so calm towards the end of tense chases and my answer was simply that when I was in that position, the scoreboard and I would become one – it was as if the scoreboard was telling me how to plan my innings and to take my side to a win.
Crowd Control
The 1997 Sahara Cup incident should never have happened. What the person in the crowd was shouting to players with a mega-phone in hand, was absolutely disgusting and I reacted to that because sometimes we as players are under a lot of stress and any small incident can cause unintended consequences. But in hindsight, I have to say that whatever the provocation, players should never react in that way - never. What I did that day was wrong and I hope nothing like this ever happens again.
Aggro at The Oval
The Ovalgate incident in 2006 is another example of how things should not have transpired. Whilst I am glad that my team and I were eventually cleared of any wrongdoing and the 2 umpires from the game, Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove, suffered consequences of their actions, I am clear about the fact that such incidents only bring shame to cricket and can or should never be repeated. If I could go back in time, I would have handled the situation very differently as I am sure others involved that day would also. Things escalated very quickly largely due to poor communication and some misunderstandings but all round it was a bad day for cricket.
The death of Bob Woolmer
March 2007 will always remain a month that has weighed heavily on me and on my career due to many reasons. Of course, the effect of the tragic loss of our Coach Bob Woolmer was indescribable. But in cricketing terms, we had been knocked out of the World Cup due to a shocking 3-wicket loss to Ireland which to me as a cricketer was just part and parcel of game. You win some, you lose some and I have no issue with that, but what happened after Bob Woolmer’s death and how we were treated with suspicion and put away in isolation is what I cannot forget nor forgive. Bob was a well-liked Coach, and we were all in shock, but we couldn’t grieve because we were being treated like suspects which was very distressing. Even now I am still unable to sleep if I ever cast my mind back to those dark days, this is the sort of mental damage that incident did to me and many of my team-mates.
Bob Woolmer was an amazing man, and I had an association of close to three and a half years and a close bond with him and we had lots of plans for our team for the future. We had a great understanding and a lot to show for during those years as we had many wins including those in India in 2005. But such is fate that on the evening after our loss to Ireland, Bob and I were in an elevator, and he asked me about my plans for the future as both of us had been contracted by the Pakistan Cricket Board only until the end of the 2007 World Cup. I said to Bob, that I was in no mood to speak about it then and that we should sleep on it and speak about it the next morning. Unfortunately, the morning did not arrive for Bob Woolmer and we never got the chance to have that conversation.
Headingley connection
My experience at Yorkshire was enjoyable even though it was a short stint as a replacement for Younis Khan in 2007 and I didn’t score a lot of runs. But I built some great connections with the team, especially with Michael Vaughan and Darren Gough and if the opportunity ever arose, I am not averse to helping out the County if they need my help in future. I’m sure it would be wonderful to work with some of the young upcoming players at Yorkshire and to get the opportunity to pass on my experience and knowledge to them.
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