What future holds for Izamam-ul-Haq

There have been rumors circulating in the Pakistani cricket circles that Inzamam might not be selected for the home test series against South Africa due to be played later this year. This has come as no surprise since a lot of ex-cricketers and fans expressed surprise after Inzamam did not elect to retire from all forms of international cricket at the end of Pakistani World Cup campaign. Considering the physical challenges he has faced in recent years a few of them actually went as far as to suggest that he only wanted to continue playing test cricket because he wanted to break Javed Miandad’s record of Pakistan’s highest test scorer. Currently Inzamam is just 19 runs behind Miandad’s record of 8,832 runs.

PCB’s inner sources have recently confirmed to the media that PCB is ready to put a stop to this and the new selection committee is not warm to the idea of keeping Inzamam playing test cricket for the sake of a record while meanwhile denying a young cricketer the chance of cementing his place in the side.

It is interesting to note that Inzamam is already 37 years old and by the time this series comes around he’ll be closer to 38 years which is a relatively old age for a test cricketer in today’s age and time. While it is important to acknowledge Inzamam’s services to Pakistani cricket, if this allegation is true, I regard his decision to keep on playing as utterly selfish and gravely destabilizing for the team. On one hand it will deny a young cricketer a chance to represent Pakistan while on the other it will also harm the team not only because of his continued presence in the dressing room while the new captain is trying to rally the team around himself but also because his declining fitness could leave a much bigger hole in the Pakistani team for the all important tour of India and later on, the home series against Australia.

After what happened to Pakistani cricket in last six months including Pakistan’s diabolical performance in the World Cup, Bob Woolmer’s murder and suggestions by many ex-cricketers including PCB’s ex-chairman Shahryar Khan that Inzamam had full hold on the team and even Bob Woolmer could not make certain changes without his prior approval, it would have been advisable for Inzamam to retire without facing any further humiliation. Sadly it has become a habit of Pakistani cricket stars, with the exception of a few, to end up in a position of being disgracefully kicked out of the squad. In my humble opinion Inzamam destiny is in his own hands. He can spend next few weeks to ponder upon his future and decide to leave with some integrity still intact or face the humiliation of being axed out by PCB.


The News : Inzamam unlikely to retain Test spot