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Imam-ul-Haq - the Test player and his potential and the resemblance with Babar pre-2019

Looking forward to Imam in this series - expect him to get bucketloads (unless he fails to spinners!)

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At the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Day 3 of Round 2 of QeA22, Test opener Imam-ul-Haq was leading Balochistan’s fightback against Central Punjab. The left-hander was batting on 72 as Balochistan ended the day at 137 for one after Central Punjab had declared their first innings at 545 for six to secure a 350-run lead.

Imam has hit eight fours in a 157-ball innings and provided his side a 132-run first wicket start with Imran Butt (53).
 
Imam's quotes from a recent interview:

“Due to the World Test Championship, the series against England and New Zealand is important for us,” he said. “We can stay in the race for the final by winning three or four matches during the upcoming series.”

“I’m trying to maintain my form by playing domestic cricket,” he said. “Test cricket usually happens after a long gap which is why we have to prepare for it from scratch every time.”

“I like playing Test matches on home soil as compared to ODIs and T20Is,” he added.

“I’m happy to see that England and New Zealand are sending their full-strength teams to Pakistan. Top teams visiting Pakistan is good for our cricket,”
 
Imaam has to regular get runs at the opening slot he has decent competition in the top 3.
 
229 runs at an average of 38 in the QeA Trophy so far.

Not great form to be honest.
 
Saj said:
229 runs at an average of 38 in the QeA Trophy so far.

Not great form to be honest.
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Standard imam performances. He averages in mid 30s in his domestic FC career, so hes just performing at usual mediocre level.
 
He has played enough matches now , to take on the batting seriously and score loads of runs for his country..

Not want to be like another Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq like kind of player investment, on whom years of investment go wrong with avg to decent performances.

Azhar ali what a grave investment, after playing 100 tests he still cannot lead the batting lineup not considered pricey wicket, doesnt dictate a test match.. Even in the domestics he bats at 30+ SR with scores of 22(93)

Hope Imam can prove things wrong and become one of the backbone of Pak batting lineup
 
I wonder if the selectors will look at other options in the coming series.
 
Excellent work from Imam (52*)

==

Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq has completed 1000 runs in Test cricket during the first match of the ongoing series against England on Friday.

The left-hander scored a brace on the first delivery of the 18th over, which was bowled by Will Jacks, to achieve the milestone in his 17th Test match.
 
Dead wicket specialist, i bet Imam wishes he could play on these pitches every game.
 
Imam's dismissal:

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/c6qqrq" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
Thought he played a good little innings today. But needed to be there tomorrow.
 
Kianig89 said:
What's his Test average if you leave excluding Pindi games:13:
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Averages 145 at Pindi in 2 matches and 81 against Ireland a long test career awaits because of the highway at Pindi.

Get ready for more tailender dismissals outside Asia.

:azhar
 
Happy Birthday to Imam.

Born: December 22, 1995 (age 27 years), Multan, Pakistan
 
Big responsibility on Imam's shoulders to see off the day and also to bat most of tomorrow.
 
MenInG said:
Big responsibility on Imam's shoulders to see off the day and also to bat most of tomorrow.
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hes never done that before in a match saving / winning scenario apart from vs Ireland. He tends to get a nice 40-50 and back to pavillion. Needs to change that tomorrow.
 
50 highlights from Day 5

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/91pjul" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
Sidilicious said:
1st test vs Aus earlier this year
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Been trying to tell some of these guys all year that he is the most promising and productive opener you guys have had for decades. His runs are starting to stack up.

All Pakistan cricket for the next year is in Asia so he should be suited for that.

And if he can find some more country cricket before the 2023/2024 Oz tour he'll be well set for experience.
 
Hard to believe there are posters that preferred Shan to him.

Well they’re all kinds of delusional idiots in this world.
 
Next captain of Pakistan

Tiger hai Tiger, unlike ghantey ka king Babar
 
Proper fighter. People can cry nepotism, or that he’s bad overseas.

Forget overseas, right now we’re struggling to find a top order than hold the fort at home :))) he’s doing great in that regard at least. Besides, even top test teams have home track bosses, we should have one too. Also, who said he couldn’t improve his overseas record? He deserves the chance to set the record straight in that regard too.
 
A fighting 96 today. He's a consistent performer but the lad would be disappointed that he wasn't able to save the test
 
Seemed more interested in glory of a boundary to get to a hundred then saving the match, brainless dismissal when team was in huge trouble as well.
 
Dude is probably the most confident batsman out of the lot

He’s very positive in his approach
 
Amjid Javed said:
Seemed more interested in glory of a boundary to get to a hundred then saving the match, brainless dismissal when team was in huge trouble as well.
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Tbh mate, it’s the only way he knows how to play spin and it works for him. Just missed a wrongun from around the stumps this time
 
Rana said:
Tbh mate, it’s the only way he knows how to play spin and it works for him. Just missed a wrongun from around the stumps this time
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Needless shot at the time, espcially as wickets were tumbling quickly at the other end, it was a personal glory shot and a brain fade.
 
Well played Imam-ul-Haq

He survived 206 balls also scoring 96 runs

He gets criticized for every player and every good performance of his gets scrutinized. But he keeps proving his doubters wrong. Yet another excellent knock under pressure. He keeps getting better every series!!!
 
Yeah Well Played according to Pakistani standards lol. He got out when he was needed the most.Scoring 96 on a flat pitch isn't a great innings. If it wasn't for saud and lower order, we would have lost the game.
 
No Pakistan player over the last few years has egged his haters in the face as much as Imam.

He is a really good opener for our pathetic standards & has firmly established himself as the first-choice opener in both Tests & ODIs.

There is also an army of idiots that were insisting that Masood should play ahead of him. They also need to sit down now.
 
Good innings today - didn’t get a century but took it deep enough to put the game almost safe
 
Mamoon said:
No Pakistan player over the last few years has egged his haters in the face as much as Imam.

He is a really good opener for our pathetic standards & has firmly established himself as the first-choice opener in both Tests & ODIs.

There is also an army of idiots that were insisting that Masood should play ahead of him. They also need to sit down now.
Click to expand...

The thing is Pakistani fans generally cannot judge talent and skill even if it stared in their face. They will hype up complete rubbish players based on a few performances in domestic. Imam was a solid find for Pakistan when you could see how he spared Pakistan's blushes against Ireland in his debut match. 14/3 chasing 160 and instead of becoming a coward like Abdullah Shafique or Azhar Ali, he counter-attacked and scored a 50 at 85 SR. But he will remain a parchi till he retires in the eyes of these fans. Hats off to him for being able to play so consistently against this sort of mental pressure being exerted by his own public.
 
Played OK today.

Imam isn't really a very good batter by international standards, but for us it's a majboori to play him. We've got no other better option as an opener sadly, but I don't follow domestic much.

In terms of talent/ability:

Abdulah Shafique > Imam >>>>>>>>>> Shan Masood (he's domestic level at best).


Imam is not that confident when playing, doesn't have a good range of shots, and lacks the ability to score big, specially in testing conditions.

What other Test opening options do we have in the domestic circuit, does anyone know?

But like I said, for a talent less team like ours, he seems OK for now.
 
Imam smashes a chair after missing out on his 100 by 4 runs...

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 60%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/dhadq3" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
MenInG said:
Imam smashes a chair after missing out on his 100 by 4 runs...

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 60%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/dhadq3" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
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This fake aggression isn’t going to do anything.

Gotta make your bat do the talking, not hit objects with it.

Pakistan almost lost when he got out, where he wanted to come down the crease and get his 100.

Thanks to Saud who rescued us.
 
Imam should use T20 Cricket as a platform to expand his range of shots which will help him in ODI and T20 Cricket as well.
 
Probably with Imam he will be found out on seaming or bouncing wickets.

These roads in Karachi are flat as pancake.

As others have written we don’t have anyone else so for the time being he needs to keep playing
 
RyanRyan10 said:
He survived 206 balls also scoring 96 runs

He gets criticized for every player and every good performance of his gets scrutinized. But he keeps proving his doubters wrong. Yet another excellent knock under pressure. He keeps getting better every series!!!
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Thanks to these 206 deliveries Pak escaped with an undeserving draw.

So yea, well played.
 
He was driving the ball from the rough, he is a proper tiger. Daring hai bhai

Love his intent against spin bowling
 
Anyone who knows cricket knows that he has a lionheart, a cricketer who isn't afraid of failure. He may not be very talented as a batsman but loved his intent when he was driving from the rough. Imam's intent is missing in many of our other cricketers, bunch of kittens like Azhar And Abdullah Shafique
 
Mamoon said:
No Pakistan player over the last few years has egged his haters in the face as much as Imam.

He is a really good opener for our pathetic standards & has firmly established himself as the first-choice opener in both Tests & ODIs.

There is also an army of idiots that were insisting that Masood should play ahead of him. They also need to sit down now.
Click to expand...

How would you rate him on international standards
 
Kroll said:
Thought you said paper tiger at first. :moyo2
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He has massively improved his game against spin. He was bossing Adam Zampa in the ODI series against Aus, hence his SR has improved in shorter format as well
 
MenInG said:
Big responsibility on Imam's shoulders to see off the day and also to bat most of tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Plays a stupid shot. Sums up the brain of the Pakistani batters.

Oh wait some of the posters will be upset how dare I criticised the highest scorer.
 
For me he seemed to be little late on the ball against the quicker stuff-As there is a milli seconds between the ball being bowled, processing and deciding on a shot- does his eyesight hold him back. Would laser eye surgey help
 
Once Agha got out, Imam focus should have been i need to bat the rest of the day here and save my team. Instead it was "Oh i better get a 100 for myself as we are going to lose here".
 
gazza619 said:
Plays a stupid shot. Sums up the brain of the Pakistani batters.

Oh wait some of the posters will be upset how dare I criticised the highest scorer.
Click to expand...

It called being DARING, not stupid. Pant has gotten out countless times by playing aggressively so it is called stupid or what?

We don't want phattu players like Abdullah Shafique in our team
 
shariqnoor said:
The thing is Pakistani fans generally cannot judge talent and skill even if it stared in their face. They will hype up complete rubbish players based on a few performances in domestic. Imam was a solid find for Pakistan when you could see how he spared Pakistan's blushes against Ireland in his debut match. 14/3 chasing 160 and instead of becoming a coward like Abdullah Shafique or Azhar Ali, he counter-attacked and scored a 50 at 85 SR. But he will remain a parchi till he retires in the eyes of these fans. Hats off to him for being able to play so consistently against this sort of mental pressure being exerted by his own public.
Click to expand...

Imam is arguably the mentally strongest player in Pakistan. A lesser person would have completely succumbed to the criticism by now.

The amount of unfair hate & criticism that he cops is absurd. He scored a century on his debut & has performed consistently in ODI cricket from day one, but he gets mocked for being a parchi whether he is playing, or posting on social media or going about his every day business.

In spite of this, he has been able to block all the noise & focus on his cricket. Extremely impressive.

Imam will have a very long & successful career while his haters will drown in their own ignorance.
 
zarak said:
How would you rate him on international standards
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He is excellent for Pakistani standards & decent for international standards. If he can improve his SR a bit in ODIs & averaging around 42-43 in Tests which he is fully capable of, he will be and excellent player by international standards.

His haters will not like this but the reality is that Imam is well on his way of becoming the best opener Pakistan has produced since Saeed Anwar.
 
Mamoon said:
Imam is arguably the mentally strongest player in Pakistan. A lesser person would have completely succumbed to the criticism by now.

The amount of unfair hate & criticism that he cops is absurd. He scored a century on his debut & has performed consistently in ODI cricket from day one, but he gets mocked for being a parchi whether he is playing, or posting on social media or going about his every day business.

In spite of this, he has been able to block all the noise & focus on his cricket. Extremely impressive.

Imam will have a very long & successful career while his haters will drown in their own ignorance.
Click to expand...

He could help with coaching Khushdil who starts crying with the mental side of things.
 
if he gets out playing a defensive shot everyone will complain he got negative cos he was playing for his hundred, if he gets out playing aggressively everyone will complain he got out for his hundred, its a lose lose scenario when ur on 96.

he didnt leave the crease to early, he just didnt read the googly out the hand, he only played to cover the leggie. it's a technical mistake, not a mental mistake.
 
Typical Pakistani fans complaining about a player who just played great and helped force a draw.

Also, if people don't like our batsmen playing aggressively at all, then don't complain when they play like Misbah. It's like people want everything to be perfect. Play aggressive and at a high SR but don't get out playing such a shot. If players don't play aggressive shots like that, then its why they are selfish, defensive, tuk tuk etc...

He is still young in his Test career and overall, has had a pretty good 2022 season Test wise. Hopefully he can continue building on it.
 
Iman is a really good player, but he will always be unfairly called a parchi because he is Inzi's nephew. Most Pakistani fans are not very bright.
 
While this has earned him a lot of goodwill and popularity among fans and media in Pakistan, it has not been something that has been helpful for his nephew Imam-Ul-Haq. With his close relation to one of the best the country has produced, Imam has had to deal with close scrutiny across his career

In a recent interaction, Imam opened up on the comparisons and gave a heartfelt statement that he never understood what his mistake was. Imam also stated that gets told by people that he handled the attention well but he does not believe that is true.

“Sach batau ko dil kaafi dafa kiya hai ki chachu ko bolu 'meri kya galti thi' (If I'm being honest, I felt I should tell chachu (Inzamam), ‘what was my mistake?’)"

“But some things come unwanted in your life. People say that I handled it well, but I actually didn't. I just went with the flow because I had no other option. I came after a long process as well; I played two U19 World Cups, played in 45 first-class matches and had an average of 50 in the Qaid-e-Azam trophy when I was first picked in the team"

Imam credited Pakistan skipper Babar Azam for his support and help in handling the pressure during the initial parts of his career.“Initially, I couldn't handle the pressure and I won't lie. I didn't know what to do. And I would like to mention Babar here. He played a very big role in supporting me. We played a lot of cricket together. And it was vice-versa, if he had doubts, we used to discuss them as well. In my family, we are all fighters and we don't give up easily. So I kept on putting the hard work and I had good people around me"

https://www.timesnownews.com/sports...ew-imam-laments-comparisions-article-96666139
 
Missed another chance for a century. Scored 83 in the 2nd Test
 
Selfish cricketer

Should have ran himself out when it was his mistake.
 
100 for the taking - disappointing end

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/q757jg" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
The one thing I’ve rated about Imam was his ability to hit 100s - even soft ones on flat tracks, he would make 100s. But this season he’s surprisingly missed out regularly after doing the initial hard work
 
Rush of blood but expected better

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/07nlv3" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
MenInG said:
Rush of blood but expected better

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/07nlv3" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
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Just seen this for 1st time.

Very poor shot imo.
 
MenInG said:
Rush of blood but expected better

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/07nlv3" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
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Usual pathetic dismissal when an important inns was needed same as the last test. Nothing new to see here.
 
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