Name: Fawad Alam

Birth date: 1985-10-08

Hometown: Karachi, Sind

Teams: Pakistan, Karachi Cricket Association Under-19s, Karachi Dolphins, Sind Dolphins, National Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Customs, Pakistan Emerging Team

Debut: Test: Jul 12-14, 2009 | ODI: May 22, 2007 | T20I: Sep 4, 2007

Fawad Alam is a young prospect who has dominated the Pakistani domestic scene for quite a long time. Essentially a middle order batsman with an unconventional technique like Shivnarine Chanderpaul, he also bowls slow left-arm spin. In addition to that, he is one of the fittest and most athletic players in the country. He made his First Class debut at the tender age of 17 years old, and has been touted for great things from his peers.

He first came to prominence with the Pakistan Under 19s – he was part of the Pakistan squad for the U-19 World Cup 2004. His unbeaten 43 against India saw Pakistan through to the final which they went on to win. He was then retained in the U-19 squad for the home series' against Sri Lanka and South Africa Academy teams. Later, he was invited to join the National Cricket Academy (NCA), a pool of talented individuals to be groomed for international cricket.

 

Fawad Alam came into national reckoning after an outstanding domestic season in 2006/07. He overshadowed all others by bagging the Man of the Final, Player of the Tournament, Best Batsman and Best Bowler awards at the domestic Twenty20 competition. A good show in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (Pakistan's premiere four-day competition) soon followed. He was rewarded with captaincy of Pakistan Academy team that toured Bangladesh where his performance earned him a national call-up.

 

He made his ODI debut for Pakistan against Sri Lanka at Abu Dhabi in what was the last match of the series. He had a rather forgettable debut as he was not required to bowl at all and bagged a first-ball duck when it was his turn to bat. Considering his immaculate domestic record, the selectors kept their faith in the young allrounder picking him regularly in the national squad, including the squad for the inaugral ICC World Twenty20 tournament in South Africa. However, he played only one match at the World Cup - semi-final against New Zealand, where he picked up 2 wickets for 29 runs in his four overs. However, he was dropped in favour of another allrounder Yasir Arafat in the team for the final. Later in November 2007, he was selected in Pakistan's ODI squad for the Indian tour where yet again, he got to play the last match of the series only. Coming in to bat at number 7, he played a little cameo scoring an unbeaten 32 off 23 balls.

 

Although Fawad was given a limited opportunity to shine, usually batting low down the order towards the end of the innings, or bowling when the ‘slog’ was on, he managed to find a spot in Pakistan's LOI squad almost every time.Meanwhile, he was also a regular in Pakistan A and ended up as the highest run scorer during Pakistan Academy's tour of Africa in 2008 including a marathon 302 not out in a four-day game against Kenya. Such gritty knocks and many others in the domestic level as well as the A team level made Fawad a fan-favourite.

 

Fawad was later selected for the Twenty20 quadrangular tournament held in Canada in October 2008, where he showed sparks of brilliance, clinching victory from the jaws of defeat against Sri Lanka in a round match. In a 50-run partnership with the then-captain Shoaib Malik, he scored 23 not out from just 8 balls, ensuring a thrilling victory for Pakistan.

 

Fawad finally made it into Pakistan's Test squad in February 2008 but failed to get a game. He was also part of the victorious Pakistani team for the ICC World Twenty20 2009 held in England. He was always highly rated by the then-captain Younis Khan, who finally awarded him a Test cap against Sri Lanka in Colombo in July 2009. Opening the innings for the first time in his career, Fawad could only manage a paltry 16 runs in the first innings. However, he repaid his captain's faith and bounced back in the second innings - he scored mammoth 168 runs becoming the first Pakistani to score a century on debut overseas. Although a shocking batting collapse thereafter led Pakistan to yet another defeat on the tour, Fawad was awarded a shared Man of the Match award. However, a couple of low scores in the next two Tests saw him out - not only from the playing XI, but also from the selection commitee's future plans with regards to Pakistan's Test squad. He was sent back to Pakistan in the middle of the Australian tour.

 

However, Fawad remained on the selectors' radar for the LOIs. He played three matches against Australia, scoring 117 runs at an average of 39.00 in what was a horrible series for Pakistan as they ended up getting whitewashed down under. Despite being one of the few successful batsmen on the tour, Fawad was ignored for Pakistan's next ODI assignment - Asia Cup 2010 as well as the next test assignment - the tour of England even though veteran batsmen, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf were unavailable for the tour. His omission raged a debate among experts and fans who argued that the youngster deserved a call-up ahead of the newcomers like Umar Amin and Azhar Ali.

 

Fawad then made a comeback to Pakistan's ODI squad, getting picked for the ODI series against England in September 2010. He scored 153 runs at an average of 38.25 in what was the first full series that he got to play in his ODI career thus far. His performance was deemed adequate for persisting with him for the ODI series against South Africa in the UAE in October-November 2010, where he scored 123 runs in 5 matches, including a gutsy 59 not out in the third ODI where Pakistan fell short by two runs. However, his performances failed to satisfy the selectors, particularly Mohammad Ilyas and he was subsequently dropped from the ODI squad for the New Zealand tour. The first and only T20I against New Zealand later that year proved to be his last international appearance for Pakistan till date. He failed to earn a spot even in the 30-member preliminary squad for ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in spite of ending the year 2010 as Pakistan's third highest run scorer in ODIs. His surprise omission was attributed to a "lack of form" by the Chief selector Mohsin Khan.

 

However, Fawad maintains that he is determined to earn a recall by proving his mettle in the domestic circuit once again. He has been putting up consistent performances for his domestic teams, National Bank of Pakistan, Sindh Dolphins and Karachi Dolphins. He finished as the highest run scorer at the Pentangular Cup but failed to catch the eye of the selectors who did not pick him for the Caribbean tour in April 2011.

 

In the recent past, Fawad Alam's selection has been the subject of contentious debate amongst cricket fans and pundits, and even the decision-makers at the PCB. Whilst some believe he lacks the basic ingredients required to become a permanent fixture in the Pakistan side, others maintain that he brings in much needed stability to the team’s otherwise fragile batting line up.

 

It remains to be seen whether Fawad will bounce back and stage a comeback to the international arena or end up as another unfulfilled talent.