AlphaFighter
First Class Captain
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2007
- Runs
- 4,443
- Post of the Week
- 1
Looking at the Cricinfo stats, he played his match for Pakistan at the age of 32. Most batsmen play till the age of 36-38 and some reach their peak in their mid 30's.
I wonder why was he discarded so early by the selectors back then. He was completely out of favor after the Australia tour 1999-2000 even though he hit a century in Perth and scored 80 at Hobart. In the Carlton and United Series he played a few good knocks as well.
After that he was completely discarded. He got a recall against Sri lanka for one test match where he got a bad decision in the second innings and then he got a final opportunity against NZ in the third test in 2011 where he was forced to play as an opener in the third test match.
He may not have been in the league of Inzamam, Yousaf, Younis, Salim Malik e.t.c. but considering the quality of batsmen we are producing in our domestic cricket these days, Ijaz looks like Bradman compared to them.
He had a very ordinary technique but he made up for it with a fearless, aggressive attitude. I mean just look at his performances against Australia in Australia at a time when the Australian wickets were more challenging to bat on compared to now. He has even scored centuries in England which completely destroys the notion that he was a flat track bully.
He may only have an ODI average of 32 but bear in mind in his first 80-90 matches under Imran Khan he was always put very lower down the order and he average around 23 and Imran Khan only kept him in the team for his excellent fielding. For him to pick his average up from 23 to 32 was a pretty decent achievement considering the way the early part of his career started.
I think he could have easily played atleast another 3-4 more years and looked to have retired by 2006-07. The way Pakistan discards and mis-treats its players is nothing short of disgraceful.
I wonder why was he discarded so early by the selectors back then. He was completely out of favor after the Australia tour 1999-2000 even though he hit a century in Perth and scored 80 at Hobart. In the Carlton and United Series he played a few good knocks as well.
After that he was completely discarded. He got a recall against Sri lanka for one test match where he got a bad decision in the second innings and then he got a final opportunity against NZ in the third test in 2011 where he was forced to play as an opener in the third test match.
He may not have been in the league of Inzamam, Yousaf, Younis, Salim Malik e.t.c. but considering the quality of batsmen we are producing in our domestic cricket these days, Ijaz looks like Bradman compared to them.
He had a very ordinary technique but he made up for it with a fearless, aggressive attitude. I mean just look at his performances against Australia in Australia at a time when the Australian wickets were more challenging to bat on compared to now. He has even scored centuries in England which completely destroys the notion that he was a flat track bully.
He may only have an ODI average of 32 but bear in mind in his first 80-90 matches under Imran Khan he was always put very lower down the order and he average around 23 and Imran Khan only kept him in the team for his excellent fielding. For him to pick his average up from 23 to 32 was a pretty decent achievement considering the way the early part of his career started.
I think he could have easily played atleast another 3-4 more years and looked to have retired by 2006-07. The way Pakistan discards and mis-treats its players is nothing short of disgraceful.
burst onto the scene apparently as the heir to the throne. Lol, how wrong could the selectors be...
