The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Inzamam enters the 100-Test club

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 24, 2005

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Sport - Cricket

Inzamam enters the 100-Test club

BANGALORE, MARCH 23. The Sultan of Multan will be walking out for his 100th Test here on Thursday. In the demanding journey of Test cricket, Inzamam-ul-Haq has walked the walk.

It would be a significant achievement for this smooth-stroking batsman. The rather self-effacing cricketer, with both skill and temperament, is among the great charmers of the modern era who has not always received his due. Inzamam will only be the fourth Pakistani, after Javed Miandad (124 Tests), Wasim Akram (104) and Salim Malik (103), to figure in the 100-Test club.

As the captain of the Pakistan team facing a must-win situation, Inzamam's response when asked about his 100th Test was predictable. "It is important. But it is more important for us to win the third Test."

He went on. "I never thought I would play in 100 Tests. Tomorrow is the day. I wish to thank those who have helped me in tough situations. The family has been supportive."

`Great player'

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly said, "He is a truly great player. His statistics speak for him. He has over 7000 Test runs and over 10,000 ODI runs."

Inzamam made the headlines first in the ODIs, when he inspired Pakistan to a sensational victory over New Zealand in a 1992 World Cup semifinal. Pakistan went on to lift the cup. Inzamam rates this triumph as his most memorable moment.

The 35-year-old Inzamam, who has 7238 runs from 99 Tests at 48.90 with 20 hundreds, made his debut in Birmingham in 1992. Although his running between the wickets and fielding have come in for criticism, he has been a source of immense strength to Pakistan in the middle-order.

Inzamam can dismantle an attack effortlessly and New Zealand did suffer under his onslaught in the Lahore Test of 2001-2002 when he piled up 329.

He had an ordinary World Cup in 2003 but was back in his county's cricketing consciousness with a 138 not out against Bangladesh in the Multan Test the same year, piloting Pakistan to a last-gasp one-wicket win. Among his away Test centuries, his 123 at St. John's (his first Test hundred), 135 not out (Wellington), 148 (Lord's), 118 (Hobart) and 112 (Galle) stand out.

The batsman, with a wonderful sense of timing and occasion, is seeking to script a Pakistani win in his 100th Test. — Our Special Correspondent

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