Islamabad
Former Skipper Aamir Sohail believes the 1992 World Cup winning captain Imran Khan inspired the young generation to become a fast-bowler, saying the Kaptaan set high standards in the game.
“Remember that 1977 Sydney Test when Imran was doing the spell with his shirt torn and when those pictures came out, it inspired the young generation,” he said in a video on his YouTube channel.
Aamir said in the past Pakistan did not had the tradition of getting fast bowlers on regular basis or in huge numbers.
“Imran’s inspirational performances and his aura inspired the young generation to become a fast bowler and in 1980’s we use to get good fast bowlers,” he said.
When you talk about Imran’s greatness and have to define him, Aamir said it goes like this, “He (Imran) knew the way, he went the way and he showed the way to the youngsters.”
Aamir said, Imran who is the current Prime Minister of Pakistan, didn’t like losing and winning was everything to him. “The high standards he set, his guidance and knowledge helped players to become better and raise their game,” he said and added Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Aqib Javed, Atta ur Rehman were many examples whom Imran mentored.
“We have results in front of us, both Wasim and Waqar managed to pick 1700 wickets,” he said.
Besides Imran, Aamir said former late Pakistani cricketer Fazal Muhammad and former pacer Sarfraz Nawaz were also greatest fast-bowlers. “Pakistan was registered as a formidable Test playing nation just because of Fazal Mahmood.”
“I was the Pakistan captain in 1998 and we were practicing at the Gadaffi Stadium when Fazal Mahmood called my name and asked for my permission to give some tips to former pacer Shoaib Akthar. I told him it will be an honour for us but he said no you are the captain and I need your permission. Such was the discipline,” he said.
He joked with Shoaib saying you would have to pay me the fees for the tips I gave you. “And the fees was in the form of taking Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket whenever you play against him,” he said and added that Shoaib did take his wicket in the Test in India on the famous yorker.
About Sarfraz, Aamir said he was a brilliant exponent of reverse swing. “In the March 1979 Test at Melbourne, Sarfraz’s greatest bowling performance took place when Australia were 305/3 and he took 7/4 in 33 balls (3 of these runs came in no-balls) and dismissed Australia for 310 to give Pakistan a surprise 71 run victory,” he recalled and added that Sarfraz imparted the skill to Imran.
“When Imran’s pace and the reverse swing combined, this combination mesmerized many batsmen in the world. Imran was the greatest,” he said.—APP
