[MENTION=147314]topspin[/MENTION] [MENTION=46929]shaz619[/MENTION] [MENTION=57506]hadi123[/MENTION]
I am wrong more often than I am right, but I think people easily fall for certain perceptions because that is what they want to believe. It is very easy for people who dislike Imam but like Fakhar to fall for the notion that since Imam is defensive and Fakhar is aggressive, he must be responsible whenever the latter throws his wicket away.
This line of though was repeatedly used to project the failures of Umar Akmal on Misbah.
Regardless of what anyone thinks of Fakhar, it is beyond any doubt that he is an asset for Pakistan when he fires. Considering the way he bats, he is the difference between Pakistan scoring 260-270 or 320+. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to see Fakhar belt bowlers all around the park in the World Cup, but his long list of failures in the last 7-8 months has made me skeptical.
Teams will try to nullify him knowing that he is the big threat (in terms of impact) in the Pakistan lineup, and I am not sure if he has the technique or the versatility to respond.
As far as Imam is concerned, the problem is that for all the objective criticism (low SR, high dot ball % etc.) he gets too much undue hate. Some people refused to give him a chance before he had played a single ball for Pakistan because of the perceived nepotism.
There is no doubt that Inzamam helped him get an international cap earlier than he would have otherwise, but his connection with Inzamam has also subjected him to a lot of hate. If he wasn't Inzamam's nephew, he would have received half the criticism with the same performances.
He has been around for less than 2 years, and for all his shortcomings that no should deny, he has already made a considerable mark for a 22-23 young Pakistani batsman.
- He became the first Pakistani since Saleem Elahi in 1995 to score a hundred on ODI debut.
- He scored 74* on Test debut to see Pakistan home in a very tricky run chase against Ireland.
- He top scored for Pakistan in the Asia Cup where 99% of our players were completely disastrous.
- He top scored and won MoS in an ODI series in South Africa, and scored more runs and averaged three times higher than Fakhar.
- In spite of not getting picked in the original PSL draft, he gets his chance at the last moment and he ends up performing at the same level as Fakhar, at a very similar average and SR.
In my opinion, that is quite an impressive track-record for his first 1.5 years in international cricket, especially when you take into account our batting struggles. It is also easy to forget that in the 2014 U-19 World Cup, he top scored for Pakistan and finished as the second highest scorer overall.
Yes he is not the finished article at 22/23, and he is not the most talented batsman in the world, but based on the above, does he really deserve all the abuse and the "p@rchi" chants every time he steps onto the field?
For the first year or so, he dealt with the trolling and the insults with dignity, and only in the last 5-6 months or so has he started to vent his frustration. Perhaps he needs to tone it down, but there is only so much that one can take. The fact that he has continued to perform for Pakistan and has kept his composure multiple times when other batsmen went bonkers shows his mental strength and resilience.
A lesser character would have not been able to cope with it. Someone like Faisal Iqbal couldn't, even though it wasn't the age of social media and he didn't face as much abuse as Imam does now. He was a very good domestic player and at 21, he played Shane Warne better than most players, but he couldn't cope with the pressure of being Miandad's nephew and thus never fulfilled his potential in international cricket.
The valid, objective criticism of some people is overshadowed by the irrational detestation of the majority. When Imam scores and Pakistan win, they put him down because he made selfish runs and boosted his average while glorifying some other player(s) who performed in that game.
When he scores and Pakistan lose, they again put him down because his selfish batting was the reason why we lost, even though he is often one of the very few players who performed.
When he fails, he must be the reason why Pakistan lost as if the other players who failed had no part in it.
We need to change our collective attitude and give this young kid a chance. He has performed well enough to merit a place in the team and it is not his fault that he is Inzamam's nephew.
He has shown maturity and the ability to handle pressure and we must back him to see if he can take his game up a notch over the next few years. He is 23, Fakhar is almost 30. Imam has shown the ability to improve, and we don't know what his level would be 7 years from now when he will be at his peak, which Fakhar is now.
If he fails, he fails - he won't be the first or the last player. People will say that he was an average player and I was a fool to have faith in him, but life will go on.
However, if he succeeds, the people who are not giving him a chance because of their bias and prejudgement will be the ones who will end up looking like fools.
