Ahmed Shazad Biography
Full name Ahmad Shahzad
Born November 23, 1991, Lahore, Punjab
Current age 19 years 57 days
Major teams Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited, Lahore Eagles, Lahore Ravi, Lahore Shalimar, Pakistan Under-19s
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak
Ahmad Shahzad aims to be an aggressive batsman like Ricky Ponting, and he is well on his way if his top-order performances for Pakistan Under-19s are any indication. Shahzad made his first-class debut in January 2007, just two months after his 15th birthday, and has since established himself as an opening batsman for the U-19 team. His 167 in the same year helped Pakistan chase down a stiff 342 in the first Youth Test against England in Derby. He backed that up with impressive performances at home, scoring 315 runs – with a highest of 105 – as Australia Under-19s were thrashed 5-0. Another century followed in the Youth Test against Bangladesh, and he carried that form into the triangular tournament in Sri Lanka in 2008, which Pakistan won. He made it to the Pakistan Test squad for the home series against Sri Lanka the following year despite not being in the probables. A century in the tour game against the visitors changed his fortunes. He returned to the Under-19 circuit to represent Pakistan in the World Cup in New Zealand.
Major teams Pakistan, Biman Bangladesh, Habib Bank Limited, ICL Pakistan XI, Lahore, Lahore Badshahs, Lahore Eagles, Lahore Lions, Pakistan Reserves
Also known as Romi
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak
Relation Father-in-law - Mohammad Ilyas, Brother - Humayun Farhat
A gifted young left-handed opener who threatened at one stage to solve Pakistan's perennial opening conundrum, Imran Farhat had a brief spell in the Pakistan side after success with the national under-19 and A sides. Farhat also evokes Saeed Anwar but only fleetingly; he bludgeons rather than times his runs. He was rather too cavalier in his early appearances in the Test arena, and was promptly discarded after the tour to New Zealand in 2000-01. However, he tightened his game and achieved much more success in the 2003-04 season. Tempering his impressive array of shots with better defensive technique, Farhat scored a deluge of runs in the home series against South Africa and New Zealand, being involved in a record four successive hundred partnerships with Yasir Hameed in the one-day internationals against New Zealand. He also notched up his first century in both Tests and ODIs during this season, and then went on to score a vital 101 in Pakistan's victory against India in the Lahore Test. But since the India series, he has fallen away. A mediocre series at home to Sri Lanka and away to Australia saw him falter, especially with the emergence of the other left-handed opener, Salman Butt. When Pakistan included only one specialist opener in the squad for the series against England in 2005 - Butt - seemingly it confirmed that Farhat, temporarily, was out of national reckoning. But as an opener in Pakistan, you are never out of national reckoning and sure enough Farhat was back for the final Test against India, where he scored a fifty. That performance saw him on the plane to Sri Lanka and an average series. But with openers becoming as rare as dinosuars in Pakistan, he was retained for the summer tour to England, where he again produced some mixed results. Despite failures in the first two Tests, a broken finger and a spate of dropped catches, he came back to score a cavalier 91 in the final, fateful Oval Test. Runs against West Indies at home were followed by a barren patch in South Africa. A first away hundred followed by a patient half-century in the Napier Test of 2009 has set him up for a long sojourn in the Test side. His ODI career has however hit roadblocks since he was dropped after an indifferent run of scores in 2006.
Major Team: Pakistan, Asia XI, Lahore, Lahore Blues, Lahore City, Lahore Eagles, Lahore Lions, National Bank of Pakistan, Punjab Stallions, Rajasthan Royals
Umar Akmal Biography As explosive starts to one’s International careers go, few can rival Umar Akmal. He announced his entry with scores of 66 and 102* within his first 3 ODI innings (at Sri Lanka, 2009) in addition to a 129 and 75 on Test debut (at New Zealand, 2009). Those performances weren’t a surprise. At first class level, Akmal was renowned for his big scores amassed in quick time. 7 years prior to his debut, Umar’s elder brother Kamran had already gotten his taste of international cricket. By 2010, the siblings featured regularly, in tandem for Pakistan.
As a fearless, middle-order batsman, throughout Pakistan’s disappointing spree of series losses against Sri Lanka in 2009 and later at Australia in early 2010, Umar Akmal’s ascendance was one of their few positives. But as the series in Australia progressed, complacency began to creep into Akmal’s Test form, which started to dip. In ODIs though, a hundred and five fifties by his 18th outing maintained a steady average. It was enough to justify an inclusion in Pakistan’s 2010 T20 World Cup squad. He finished the tournament as Pakistan’s 3rd highest-run getter towards their semi-final run.
While still protected as a batsman, featuring at 3-down, in a Pakistan side that lacks specialist batsmen with the temperament for all forms of the game, Umar Akmal is their most proven rookie to fill the void for the years to come.
Fast Facts
Akmal’s total of 204 runs on his Test debut (against New Zealand) is the 8th highest ever.
It’s also the second highest for a Pakistani debutant behind Yasir Hameed’s 275 in 2003.
Akmal’s 129 on Test debut is the 4th highest for a Pakistani, making him one of only 7 players from his country to score a century on debut. Among those on the list, Akmal is the only centurion to have achieved the feat on foreign soil.
It took Umar Akmal 38 matches (6 Tests, 18 ODIs and 14 T20s) until playing for Pakistan in Pakistan, the third most behind teammate Mohammad Aamer (41) and Sri Lankan Greame Labrooy (53).
Along with brother Kamran Akmal, the Akmals are the 4th blood brothers to feature for Pakistan in the 60-odd years of cricket history.
Among top order batsmen, Akmal has the 4th best strike rate overall (Test, ODI and T20) for Pakistani players. (Minimum of 40 matches).
Umar Akmal
Umar Akmal
Umar Akmal
Umar Akmal
Umar Akmal
Umar Akmal
Umar Akmal
Umar Akmal
Umar Akmal
Umar Akmal 64 Vs Australia 1st T20 -5th July-2010
Umar Akmal 102 off 72 First ODI century, VS Sri Lanka
Shoaib Malik Biography Shoaib Malik (born 1 February 1982 in Sialkot) is a Pakistan cricketer. He made his One-Day International debut in 1999 against the West Indies and his Test debut in 2001 against Bangladesh. He started his career as just an off spinner, and is now regarded as a useful bowling all-rounder with a batting average in the mid 30s in both Test and ODI cricket. Malik is regarded as a flexible player. He is capable of hitting big shots but is also capable of rotating the strike with good placement.
He has a strike rate of 77.23 runs per 100 balls, which compares favourably to players such as Rahul Dravid and Inzamam ul-Haq. His most brazen display of \"power hitting\" came in 2003 against South Africa when he scored 82 from 41 balls. As is required of most modern players he also has displayed good defensive batting at times.
He has taken over 100 ODI wickets at an average under 35 and economy rate below 4.5. His bowling action has come under scrutiny (particularly his doosra) but he has had elbow surgery to correct this.
In Tests, he has a better batting average against Sri Lanka and South Africa than other nations. In ODIs he has a better batting average against India, South Africa, and the West Indies than his overall career average. During his Test career, Malik has batted at 5 different positions and he has the unusual record of batting at every position except 11th in ODIs. Pakistan's problems in finding a reliable opening pair have led to Malik being used as an opener in Test and ODI matches.
Imran Nazir Biography
Imran Nazir an other gift of Allah for the Pakistan in the cricket player’s team. But the distrust was that as he offers more genuine promise than most. He is predominantly strong off the back foot, loves forcing all the way through the covers. His hostile behavior towards his cricket passion has had him made as a one-day player. In the initial period of his entrance he couldn’t perform well in his first few Tests.
Ultimately, on the other hand, Glenn McGrath and Co noticed his method and deficient of footwork rather cruelly in two Tests matches against Australia. The preference of Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar moved him upward level, which enhance his career charm and He became National squad against South Africa in 2006-07 because of the consistency in performances in in-land matches. And he was selected for World Cup 2007 team on his volatile performance 39-ball 57-scores, but his three failure match series won’t polish his performance and become a slight decline of his image in the Pakistani people. Over all his performance made him one of the best fielders in the Pakistan cricket team, so he is considered as to be the 1st Pakistani to flip-flop (while intercepting a square cut).
His career-best performance of 160 adjacent to Zimbabwe in the World Cup retained him for the following such tours to Abu Dhabi and Scotland whereas Imran also is being elected for Pakistani cricket training camps. Then he was selected in Twenty20 World Championship and rewarded by a “Central Contract” in July 2007 before representing Pakistan in the home ODI series in opposition to South Africa. Later-on he coupled with the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League and performed very well for the Lahore Badshahs, but when the PCB pardoned players to have severed ties with the ICL, Imran Nazir was soon called back into the ODI side.
Younis Khan Biography
Younis Khan is fearless, as befits his Pathan ancestry and will forever be remembered as the second Khan to bring home a world title for Pakistan: Younis was Pakistan's captain in the 2009 World Twenty20, leading a successful campaign with stark similarities to the one Imran Khan had led 17 years earlier. Younis retired from the format straight after, a graceful and dignified gesture from a complex but honest man.
It is as a batsman, and a fearless one, that he made his name first, playing with a flourish. He is especially strong in the arc from backward point to extra cover. He is prone to getting down on one knee and driving extravagantly. But this flamboyance is coupled with grit.
Though Younis was one of the few batsmen who retained his place in the team after Pakistan's disastrous World Cup campaign in 2003, he lost it soon after due to a string of poor scores in the home series against Bangladesh and South Africa. He came back for the one-day series against India, but failed to cement a place in the Test side. He is among the better fielders in Pakistan and he took a world-record four catches in one innings as substitute during Pakistan's demolition of Bangladesh in the 2001-02 Asian Test Championship.
But until his return to the side in October 2004, he wasn't a fixture. At the pivotal one-down, against Sri Lanka in Karachi, a century laid the groundwork for his emergence as a force in Pakistan cricket. He was the top run-getter in the disastrous 3-0 whitewash in Australia immediately after and on the tour of India, for which Younis was elevated to vice-captain, he blossomed. After a horror start to the series he came back strongly, capping things off with a match-winning 267 in the final Test. He credits the late Bob Woolmer, to whom he was close, for the turnaround in his career.
Since then, barring minor troughs such as the 2005-06 series against England at home, his career has been one elongated peak, scoring hundreds against India and England for fun and becoming Pakistan's most successful one-down in recent memory. More importantly, the tour to India also showcased his potential as a future captain of Pakistan and his energetic and astute leadership has impressed many people. As captain in Inzamam's absence he led the side to a disastrous loss against the West Indies in 2005 but also to a memorable win against India in Karachi in January 2006.
He blotted his book by suddenly resigning from the captaincy in Inzamam's absence for the Champions Trophy 2006, only to return a day later and lead a scandal-afflicted side to a disappointing first round exit. He was the favourite to take over the captaincy after Pakistan's ignominous World Cup ouster in 2007 but he turned it down, citing mental strain and decided to honour his commitment with Yorkshire by making himself unavailable for Pakistan. In January 2009, however, the PCB came calling a third time, after Pakistan's disastrous home ODI series against Sri Lanka, and appointed him captain in place of Shoaib Malik. Within a few months, with the Twenty20 win, Younis was looking a natural leader.
But the peace, once again, did not last long and several senior players in the team expressed misgivings over Younis' leadership. Things came to a head against New Zealand in Sharjah, after which he announced his resignation from the top-job and sought a break from the team for the tour down under. He was included in the ODI team, midway through a disastrous tour, but struggled for form and runs. His career hit its biggest controversy in March 2010 when, along with Mohammad Yousuf, he was banned by the PCB from all Pakistan teams, for causing infighting within the team, in effect ending his career.
