Inzamam-ul-Haq (Urdu: انضمام الحق) (born 3 March 1970 in Multan) is a Pakistani cricketer. He is considered to be one of Pakistan's best batsmen and one of the best in the world today. He is currently the captain of the Pakistani team. He made his Test debut against England at Edgbaston in 1992.

Career highlights

• Scoring 60 in 37 balls against New Zealand in the semi final of the 1992 World Cup to win the match that was nearly lost.
• Scoring 138* to deny Bangladesh victory at Multan. The innings is considered to be as one of the best match-winning innings in the history of Test Match Cricket.
• Scoring 329 against New Zealand in Lahore during a Test in the 2001-02 season (the twelfth highest score by a batsman)
• His 82 fifties of December 31, 2005, are the highest in ODI cricket.
• Becoming the second batsman to score 10,000 runs in one-day internationals (behind Sachin Tendulkar)
• Scoring a century (184) in his 100th Test, thus becoming only the fifth player to do so, joining an elite club containing England's Colin Cowdrey and Alec Stewart, Gordon Greenidge of West Indies and Pakistan's Javed Miandad and later on Australia's Ricky Ponting.
• In the 2nd Test match against England in 2005, he scored a century in each innings to become Pakistan's leading centurion with 24 centuries, breaking Javed Miandad's record of 23 Test centuries. He also climbed five places in the LG ICC cricket ratings to third place.
• His 25th century in the 2nd Test against India on 22nd January 2006 making him only the 10th player in the history of Test Cricket to score 25 or more centuries.

Inzamam ul-Haq is well-known for his poor running between the wickets (as of May 2005, he has been run out a record 38 times in one-day internationals) and his ability to play shots around the ground. He manages to hit the ball astoundingly late and his footwork is generally considered to be fast, enabling him to position himself for shots. He averages just over 50 runs per innings in Tests and nearly 40 runs in one-day internationals with a strike rate of 53.65 and 74.20 respectively (figures current as of May 2004). He was called "the best batsmen in the world against pace" by Imran Khan,because "he seems to have so much time on his hands before the ball reaches him". However his average against South Africa and Australia - both known for their pace attacks - have been considerably lower than his overall average having scored just one Test century against these two opponents. Inzamam, despite his size, can maneuver the ball very subtly as well as play big shots.

International Records

He plays shots all round the wicket, is especially strong off his legs, and unleashes ferocious pulls and lofted drives. So far he has scored 25 Test 100s and Pakistan has won 17 of the matches in which he has scored 100s. That can be contrasted that with some other modern day great players, like Sachin Tendulkar, who has scored only 11 100s in won matches out of his overall 35, and Brian Lara who has only 8 out of his 29 hundreds in won matches. Inzamam's average in won Test matches is over 80 which is second best only to Don Bradman. However his average against the Australian cricket team - widely acknowledged as the best team - has been considerably low hovering around 30s. His ability to play at his best under pressure is widely accepted among critics, as Sanjay Manjrekar once said that he is world's best batsman when it comes to playing under pressure. His 60 off 37 balls in 1992 world cup semifinal, 138 not out against Bangladesh and his 184 against India at Bangalore, certainly testifies this fact.

Further reading

• Webappps.com - Inzamam-Ul-Haq — Story of Arrival to International Cricket
• Mashhur.com - When Inzi smashed the kiwis in the 1992 World Cup semi final

See also

1970 births | ACC Asian XI ODI cricketers | Faisalabad cricketers | Living people | Multan cricketers | National Bank of Pakistan cricketers | Pakistani cricket captains | Pakistani cricketers | Pakistani ODI cricketers | Pakistani people | Pakistani Test cricketers | Rawalpindi cricketers | United Bank Limited cricketers | World XI Test cricketers