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Why does Imam-ul-Haq get so much hate?

Rana said:
You watch cricket differently. That’s your thing, I’m cool with that.

I’ll tell you again, and soon you will realise I was correct. Pakistan has 3 cricketers approaching the white ball game in the correct manner.

Fakhar Zaman
Shadab Khan
Harris Rauf

Besides these 3, they have decent players who have good numbers, but they are very similar to how you would find gun players in associate sides with top numbers too because of playing each other.
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Hahah this always makes me laugh haris rauf and Shadab Lool. You complain about imam Babar and Rizwan then you have Shadab with 67sr. This is quite funny. The less said about brainless haris rauf the better.
 
cricenjoyer said:
Imam's mentality can be summed up by the way he celebrated his 100. Your team is on the back foot, there is plenty of work to do and what does Imam do? He celebrates like he has toned up against India in a WC match.

This mentality is what is keeping him mediocre and this is the mentality that will keep our ODI team mediocre.

it's a shame however. If Imam could just improve his ability to rotate strike, drop his dot ball percentage and develop a release shot that doesn't involve him charging down the wicket, then he could easily be the modern day opener we need. However as his celebration suggests, he is content with mediocrity and our team failing as long as he scores another ton
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Brilliant analysis
 
This has been a brilliant brilliant knock from Imam. Hoping he can finish it off, or at least get us close.
 
cricenjoyer said:
Imam's mentality can be summed up by the way he celebrated his 100. Your team is on the back foot, there is plenty of work to do and what does Imam do? He celebrates like he has toned up against India in a WC match.

This mentality is what is keeping him mediocre and this is the mentality that will keep our ODI team mediocre.

it's a shame however. If Imam could just improve his ability to rotate strike,drop his dot ball percentage and develop a release shot that doesn't involve him charging down the wicket, then he could easily be the modern day opener we need. However as his celebration suggests, he is content with mediocrity and our team failing as long as he scores another ton
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Well played Imam well played.

Today he has looked a much better played; rotated the strike smartly, had a release shot vs spin, minimised dots and played with intent.

I hope that Imam realises today that he can take his game to the next level by playing smart attacking cricket - no need to become a slogger or a hack- just need to do the 1 percenters more often
 
Another 100 but he's our main focus of blame eh?

Not the main problem simple as.
 
Imam has played a very good knock today. Kept the run rate in check and set the foundation.
His haters are oh so annoyed right now .
 
Major said:
I wonder if you gonna hate him today
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Did his job today in PP only 10 dot balls, played calculated aggressive shots over in field early on. went after the spinners early on. Rotated the strike better. Didnt wait till 30th over to be aggressive like the 1st game.

Same with Babar, this how they should be batting all tje time.
 
Amjid Javed said:
Did his job today in PP only 10 dot balls, played calculated aggressive shots over in field early on. went after the spinners early on. Rotated the strike better. Didnt wait till 30th over to be aggressive like the 1st game.

Same with Babar, this how they should be batting all tje time.
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Fair enough
 
Firebat said:
This has been a brilliant brilliant knock from Imam. Hoping he can finish it off, or at least get us close.
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Hes been great today Pro active Cutting down the dot balls and playing for the team

Too many times he starts looking to preserve his wkt Just play positive please

If he plays like this as per the situation and for the team why wouldnt any fans want him in the team?
 
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Major said:
Fair enough
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i will criticise when i believe its deserved and praise when its deserved.

Today was 1st time the whole team grew a pair of balls and played positive cricket. its a shame this postivity was no where to be seen before today in test series or 1st ODI.
 
I actually didn't like most of his innings today. He kept going down the track. Trying to be too brave, taking lots of chances. This guy will never score daddy ODI hundreds with this batting approach.

This is not 90s where 105 or 110 is deemed heroic.

The modern heroic is 150+
 
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gazza619 said:
I actually didn't like most of his innings today. He kept going down the track. Trying to be too brave, taking lots of chances. This guy will never score daddy ODI hundreds with this batting approach.

This is not 90s where 105 or 110 is deemed heroic.

The modern heroic is 150+
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How many players have scored 150+
 
Today’s match was the ideal dream chase. All batsman played there part and Imam contributed to that immensely.

Days like these won’t happen all the time , but as 26 year old he has shown some sound development, and he already has 9 one day hundreds. Very good going for Pakistan’s standards .

Fakhar is the aggressor but Imam can add a few gears like he did today .

We have world class top 3.

Imam
Fakhar
Babar
 
The guy has 10 hundreds before 50 ODIs

That’s a phenomenal statistic!
 
gazza619 said:
I actually didn't like most of his innings today. He kept going down the track. Trying to be too brave, taking lots of chances. This guy will never score daddy ODI hundreds with this batting approach.

This is not 90s where 105 or 110 is deemed heroic.

The modern heroic is 150+
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Starboy said:
I would still drop Imam from ODs
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Agreed. He's going to get found out as he always does.
 
topspin said:
Agreed. He's going to get found out as he always does.
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When exactly? He already has 10 centuries, by the time he "gets found out" he would have scored 10 more centuries. Tell you what, that would be a career with huge accomplishment. He's a very good player and Ppers should be proud of him. Not to say he doesn't need to improve further but so does every cricketer on earth, point is he very much belongs here and is doing phenomenally well.
 
Imam will score 25-30 ODI hundreds and will be regarded as Pakistan’s second greatest, if not the greatest ODI opener ever.

People can continue to hate him but it doesn’t change the reality. His composure and mentality is top notch for a Pakistani batsman.
 
Mamoon said:
Imam will score 25-30 ODI hundreds and will be regarded as Pakistan’s second greatest, if not the greatest ODI opener ever.

People can continue to hate him but it doesn’t change the reality. His composure and mentality is top notch for a Pakistani batsman.
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Haters prolly hating just cos he wears glasses
And doesnt try to slog mindlessly after getting bogged down due to being unable to rotate the strike.
 
What are Imam's stats vs top 8 teams?

Stats can be misleading. Look at Rayudu's average in ODIs .
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Quickest to 9 ODI hundreds:<br><br>Imam-ul-Haq - 48 innings<br>Hashim Amla - 52 innings<br>Quinton de Kock - 53 innings<br>Babar Azam - 61 innings<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/SajSadiqCricket/status/1509642430794055682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 31, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Ab Fan said:
What are Imam's stats vs top 8 teams?

Stats can be misleading. Look at Rayudu's average in ODIs .
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Imam is less than 50 ODIs old.

He has a 150 in England, two hundreds vs Australia and a hundred in South Africa.

He has been brilliant - Pakistani fans who criticize him or want him out of the team are absolute idiots.

If he is a product of nepotism than I thank nepotism. Thank you Inzamam for fast-tracking him because he deserves it.
 
Ab Fan said:
What are Imam's stats vs top 8 teams?

Stats can be misleading. Look at Rayudu's average in ODIs .
Click to expand...


Imaam average against Australia 54
Imaam average against England 55
Imaam average against South Africa 49

He only really struggled against India and New Zealand with limited chances against them.
 
Mamoon said:
Imam is less than 50 ODIs old.

He has a 150 in England, two hundreds vs Australia and a hundred in South Africa.

He has been brilliant - Pakistani fans who criticize him or want him out of the team are absolute idiots.

If he is a product of nepotism than I thank nepotism. Thank you Inzamam for fast-tracking him because he deserves it.
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Exactly he will definitely be top 3 greatest openers for Pakistan.
 
I'm interested to see how much Imam can continue to bring up his SR. Much improved from his early days but also seems like UAE had quite an impact.

SR in UAE in 13 innings: 71
SR everywhere outside of UAE in 36 innings: 86

If he can continue pushing that up a bit to around 90, that is quite a batsmen. Pakistan is truly in the era of opening batsmen in LOI and have so many coming up through the ranks.
 
Imam Ul Haq with another brilliant innings, finishing not out on 89 of 100 balls in the final ODI of the Series vs Australia, to seal it 2-1.
 
I’m a huge Babar fan but I think he told imam he wanted the hundred and selfishly kept the strike during that period when they had similar scores. You could tell imaam had slowed down.
I think a true leader would let his team members get the hundred before themselves. Selfish. The hundred should have been Imaam’s
 
This is the first series where he has shown the proper intent and still averaged 130+. Exceptional from him. The criticism he has received thus far wasn't entirely unwarranted but if he keeps this up it will be put to rest soon enough
 
Imam is a wonderful player (perfect foil for Fakhar) with the ability to easily maintain a 90+ SR

Our top 3 of Imam, Fakhar and Babar is world class!
 
We just need an impact player /Finisher at 5/6 position in the mould of Dhoni averaging 40+ with 120 S/R and a aggressive mad hitter like Afridi or Asif Ali but who can average atleast 35+ with a S/R of 150+ then we are all set to go become world champions
 
Fahdi said:
This is the first series where he has shown the proper intent and still averaged 130+. Exceptional from him. The criticism he has received thus far wasn't entirely unwarranted but if he keeps this up it will be put to rest soon enough
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I think the criticism of Imam's ODI batting largely centres around his dot ball % in the PP. His release shot against pace is that charge down the wicket.

However he's very good at accumulating runs when the field is spread and at attacking spin.

He's a gritty and gutsy individual who plays extremely well within his limits. It's a shame his Test career hasn't properly kicked off otherwise he'd be our best opener since Saeed Anwar.
 
adzzy786 said:
I’m a huge Babar fan but I think he told imam he wanted the hundred and selfishly kept the strike during that period when they had similar scores. You could tell imaam had slowed down.
I think a true leader would let his team members get the hundred before themselves. Selfish. The hundred should have been Imaam’s
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Yes I think so too
 
Great Series for Imaam it was unfortunate he didn't get player of the series.
 
Century Machine, his record in One Day is phenomenal. In fact along with Fakhar and Babar I am yet to remember someone with such good top 3 stats wise.

imam and Babar need finish with around at least 30+ centuries for Pakistan to dominate.
 
If he wasn't related to Inzi then people would be saying that he makes Saeed Anwar look like Chris Martin with the bat. He has certainly improved his SR in this series and looks set to have a long career ahead of him. I would really like him to succeed in the long term and I feel he should only play Tests and ODI's, I do not see a future for him in T20's.
 
ExplicitAI said:
If he wasn't related to Inzi then people would be saying that he makes Saeed Anwar look like Chris Martin with the bat. He has certainly improved his SR in this series and looks set to have a long career ahead of him. I would really like him to succeed in the long term and I feel he should only play Tests and ODI's, I do not see a future for him in T20's.
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Do you think it's due to the management change that he has started to increase his strike rate.
 
When I made this thread, Imam had 4 hundreds. 3 years later, he has 9 and still has a high average of 54 in ODIs. And he still has haters. The man has had a phenomenal start to his career and in this recently concluded ODI series, he has looked like wanting to win the game in every single innings he played. He showed impetus and commitment even when Babar Azam didn't.

If Imam still has haters after this then we don't deserve Imam.
 
shamaan said:
Do you think it's due to the management change that he has started to increase his strike rate.
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I think it's more to do with not playing in UAE anywhere and gaining some experience/continuing to improve to his shots. His SR in UAE is exceptionally bad so swapping that for great batting pitches in Pakistan, it makes a big difference. SR in UAE is 71 in 13 innings and so far, it's 93 SR in 7 innings in Pakistan.

In general, we have seen Pakistani batsmen SR starting to increase ever since we stopped playing in UAE and we are consistently seeing this team put up 200 in T20's & 300's in ODI. A feat that was of rare occurrence for the past decade. Bowling numbers economy wise however have risen quite a bit too.
 
Nasty Naz said:
I think it's more to do with not playing in UAE anywhere and gaining some experience/continuing to improve to his shots. His SR in UAE is exceptionally bad so swapping that for great batting pitches in Pakistan, it makes a big difference. SR in UAE is 71 in 13 innings and so far, it's 93 SR in 7 innings in Pakistan.

In general, we have seen Pakistani batsmen SR starting to increase ever since we stopped playing in UAE and we are consistently seeing this team put up 200 in T20's & 300's in ODI. A feat that was of rare occurrence for the past decade. Bowling numbers economy wise however have risen quite a bit too.
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Yes I agree with what you stated that it's due to the better pitches hence better strike rates.
 
if Imam doesn't hold one end I can bet this Pakistani team will not even survive 30 overs. You need one at the other end who will not just throw away his wicket.
 
shamaan said:
Do you think it's due to the management change that he has started to increase his strike rate.
Click to expand...

That could be a potential factor because a change in management would mean that when somebody new comes into the work environment with fresh ideas, they're able to rectify issues that the previous management were not able to do.

Another factor I thought of that not many people have mentioned that could play a role in Imam's increased SR is the rise of social media in which many people can voice their criticisms. I realised one thing about the South Asian community is that we respond to feedback extremely well but we rarely receive it; only a very few individuals would decide to not take up good advice and let their career's go to waste like Umar Akmal for example. Most of us can take criticism to the point in which we would want to change that initial negative perception by rectifying it as best as we can. Imam has done just that by wanting to remove the nepotism tag by scoring consistently. He's done extremely well so far.
 
He was very good in this series and was very selfless. His century in the second ODI is easily his best one to date. Hopefully he continues to improve and doesn't become complacent.
 
ExplicitAI said:
That could be a potential factor because a change in management would mean that when somebody new comes into the work environment with fresh ideas, they're able to rectify issues that the previous management were not able to do.

Another factor I thought of that not many people have mentioned that could play a role in Imam's increased SR is the rise of social media in which many people can voice their criticisms. I realised one thing about the South Asian community is that we respond to feedback extremely well but we rarely receive it; only a very few individuals would decide to not take up good advice and let their career's go to waste like Umar Akmal for example. Most of us can take criticism to the point in which we would want to change that initial negative perception by rectifying it as best as we can. Imam has done just that by wanting to remove the nepotism tag by scoring consistently. He's done extremely well so far.
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That is an excellent point about getting feedback and responding to feedback.
 
Imam needs a stint in County cricket to improve his batting and address a few technical issues.

Even if it was for 6 or 8 County Championship games, the benefit to him would be immense.

He should look to try to see if he or his reps can make this happen.
 
Opening batter Imam-ul-Haq has revealed that he is working hard to improve his power-hitting skills in order to cement his place in Pakistan's T20 squad and franchise cricket.

The left-hander made his comeback recently in Test cricket against Australia, where he scored centuries in both innings of the Rawalpindi Test. He moved to No.3 recently in ODI format after smacking two centuries and 89 in three-match series against the Aussies.

While talking to fans on Twitter space, the 26-year-old said that most of the cricketers in Pakistan are branded as a player of a particular format and this proves to be disappointment for the player

"Cricketers in Pakistan are usually labeled with specific red-ball or white-ball format player. This should indeed end as mostly players get frustrated when they are being labeled specifically for being players of a particular format," Imam said.

"I'm working hard on my power-hitting skills in order to make spot in T20 squad and franchise cricket as well," he added.

On the other hand, Imam said that he faced hurdles due to the critics, but he carries uncle Inzamam-ul-Haq's advice and focuses on the game.

"No doubt I did faced difficulties as a cricketer for being born in a family of a legend, but Inzamam-Ul-Haq always advised me that a cricketer himself knows his potential and capabilities the most, so I always focused on working hard in the field," he added.

Meanwhile, Imam revealed the most liked thing about wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan. "He has a very simple personality. What I like about him the most is that whenever we go abroad for a tour, he makes a WhatsApp group of all cricketers where he announces namaz timings on the daily basis."

Imam further added that he also drives skipper Babar Azam's red car which was rewarded to the captain for his Player of the Series' performance in Australia ODIs.

"Babar Azam is my friend and we usually visit each other's home almost everyday. Babar Azam usually in a lighter note tells me that the red car in ODI series against Australia belongs to you. I usually drive red car of Babar Azam whenever he comes to my home," Imam added.

https://cricketpakistan.com.pk/en/news/detail/imam-ul-haq-strives-to-hone-power-hitting-capabilities
 
I wish Imam would work on his strike rotation instead of his power hitting. He gets bogged down too easily and his SR is too low in this era. Needs to learn how to convert the dot balls into singles and doubles. Once he does this, he can focus on power hitting.
 
Imam:

"In the Test series, the Australians gave us a rough time and played fantastic cricket, and as a player, I gained a lot from being put under constant pressure"

"When more and more topsides will visit Pakistan, it will be an opportunity for individuals as well as a team to showcase and improve their skill set"
 
2 reasons: 1) Being Inzi's nephew, and 2) His own slow batting.

He will likely get bashed every time he has a lean patch.
 
A 6th consecutive 50+ ODI score for Imam. He is in outstanding form at the minute:

1.jpg
 
Criminally underrated cricketer in ODIs. Excellent batsman. I guess Indians and Pakistanis have a thing for players with flair and they hate anyone who doesn’t fit that criteria but as boring as he is to watch his effectiveness is equally proportional.
 
He might end up as Pakistan's 2nd greatest ODI opener of all time, and will still get hated for no reason.

A huge, huge upgrade on the amateurs who opened the batting for Pakistan in the last 15 years.

There is a sense of security when Babar and Imam are batting together. You know the team has a chance to go past 300+ runs only if these two put up a strong partnership.

Imam has come a long way. He has proven every critic wrong.
 
A potentially damaging drop of Pooran by Imam. Not sure he should be fielding at point.

1.jpg
 
Imam's performances since his comeback in the Australia series have earned him a red-ball and white-ball PCB contract for 2022/23, one of only 5 players to get them.

Deserved?
 
Firebat said:
Imam's performances since his comeback in the Australia series have earned him a red-ball and white-ball PCB contract for 2022/23, one of only 5 players to get them.

Deserved?
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Well yeah. It's self explanatory.
 
Like many I was unsure of Imam as an ODI opener. The nepotism charges were unfair given Imam was a talked about prospect since U19 days. However it seemed Imam was a throwback opener in an era of Roy, Bairstow, Warner etc. Specifically, his SR against the top sides was an issue.

However since Jan 2021, Imam averages 62 at a SR of 92 from 12 ODIs. Half of them are vs AUS and SAF. That is outstanding and a testament to his work ethic.
 
BTW I'm not saying Imam's suddenly improved in the last 18 months - his overall average has always been solid, but recently he's gone up another level with his SR.

I feel it's also due to finally being able to bat on true Pakistani surfaces instead of those trash slow, stopping UAE pitches.
 
Markhor said:
BTW I'm not saying Imam's suddenly improved in the last 18 months - his overall average has always been solid, but recently he's gone up another level with his SR.

I feel it's also due to finally being able to bat on true Pakistani surfaces instead of those trash slow, stopping UAE pitches.
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Do you also think its becouse of the criticism he gets whilst batting slow or is it just becouse of the pitches
 
Mohammad Wasim on Imam's Central contract


On being asked about left-handed opener Imam-ul-Haq, who was awarded the Category B in white-ball cricket despite being ranked second in the latest ICC ODI batting rankings, Wasim claimed that the policy does not permit double promotion.

“No doubt, Imam’s performance has been improved a lot. He was in Category C in the last year’s contracts, so he got promoted. He made runs in domestic cricket and got introduced in the red-ball side, and performed well so he did get promoted,"

“Double promotion, however, is not the criteria, which means a player can not be promoted by two categories. Then again I would say how many match-winning performances a player has produced is the key"
 
He is a poor test player and shouldn't be in the team. What has he done in the 15 matches he has played? Nothing aside from cashing on the easiest conditions possible.
Unfortunately, he is babar's best buddy and we are probably stuck with him.
 
Got out to a harmless delivery from a part timer dhananjaya silva. Pathetic test batsman playing due to his ODI exploits
 
MenInG said:
When will he play a match-changing innings?
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When we play Afghanistan or ireland.

I said when his cardboard cut out technic was exposed in UAE vs NZ he wasnt good enough for test cricket and so its proving. 100s on a dead pindi road dont change that.
 
Another timid dismissal to a nothing ball.

Really needs to improve his record outside of Pakistan.

His average in Tests outside Pakistan at the moment is 25.18
 
The Netherlands series is coming up and we are planning to play a full-strength team. There he will play a match-changing innnings.

I am not a fan of Imam, but unfortunately, you can't keep denying the facts on how much he has improved his strike rate in ODIs.
 
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