http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Fawad-Alam-c56883 – A forgotten potential – Part One
Since Pakistan’s emergence in world cricket, the country has produced a lot of quality batsmen but very few of them can be categorized as legends of the game. However, there have been some reliable batsmen in every decade that bore the burden of scoring
runs for their bowlers to defend.
The same has not been the case for the Green Shirts since last 12 years as Pakistan has produced very few batsmen of international calibre. A number of young batsmen shined for a brief period of time before fading away.
When it comes to batting, Pakistan is not a very fertile land but one has to admit that the selectors have played a massive role in destroying careers of many youngsters, who could have developed into efficient performers.
Karachi’s left-handed middle-order batsman, Fawad Alam is a prime example of mismanagement and ignorance on part of the authorities. Fawad last represented Pakistan in 2010 and since then he has been sidelined by the selectors, despite some extra-ordinary
performance in the domestic cricket of the country.
However, the gutsy middle-order batsman has not lost heart and continues to think that he will have a long career at the highest stage of the game. Fawad understands that the only way he can regain the confidence of the selectors is to keep working hard
in the national cricket. The Karachi-born cricketer is desperately waiting for another opportunity, so that he can cement his place in the Pakistan team.
“I have never lost hope of an international return in the past, nor will I ever in the future. Whenever a player gets dropped from the team, his only goal is to make a comeback after performing well in domestic cricket. I believe in myself and thankfully
I’ve been performing well on a consistent basis. God-willing, I will come back soon. I'm focused and hopeful that another chance will come my way to represent Pakistan once again. It’s good that some players have been recalled and given another chance,” Fawad
expressed in his recent interview to Pakpassion.
The 26-year-old emerged from the junior cricket in the country and after some impressive performances in inter-regional under-19 competitions, Fawad got an opportunity to play for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s junior team.
Alam made his first-class debut in 2003 and never looked back since then. He continued to impress in domestic cricket before finally making his debut for Pakistan in 2007. The left-handed batsman had to wait for two more years to play his first Test match,
which turned out to be a magical moment in his career as he scored a ton against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 at Colombo.
The middle-order batsman was asked to open the innings but he rose to the occasion and scored 168 runs, which remains one of the better performances by a debutant. However, the left-hander played only two Tests before getting dropped.
Fawad has so far played three Tests, 27 One Day Internationals and 24 T20Is for his country, in which he has scored more than a thousand runs with impressive averages in all the three kinds of the game. With averages of 41.66 in the five-day format and 37.68
in ODIs, Fawad deserves more chances in international cricket, considering the fact that most of the established batsmen in the Pakistan team do not have such stats.
To be continued...
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely of the author and do not represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Tags: