As part of an exclusive interview with PakPassion.net, Wasti was full of praise for the now discarded Imran Nazir. While accepting flaws in Nazir’s temperament, Wasti described him as a talent that Pakistan could ill afford to ignore.

By Amir Husain (22nd May, 2012)

 

Imran Nazir made his Test debut in the Asian Test Championships against Sri Lanka in 1999, scoring 64 in a typically high tempo innings. Alongside a team featuring some of the best known talents that Pakistan had ever produced, the 17 year old Imran’s appearance on the international scene seemed to herald the arrival of yet another precocious talent from Pakistan.

The swashbuckling “no fear”attitude on display by the young man instantly caught the eye of the ordinary spectator and experts alike and it appeared Nazir was destined for stardom and a permanent place in the star studded team which boasted the likes of Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammed Yousuf, Saqlain Mushtaq and Wasim Akram.

What started as a promising career at the highest form of the game soon fizzled out as a distant memory. Imran managed to play only 8 Test matches for Pakistan before being discarded by the team management as a player who was unable to apply the requisite level of concentration to the tasks at hand. Nazir’s last Test match against Australia yielded scores of 0 and 16 albeit at a time when the rest of the team was bowled out for 59 and 53.

Nazir’s ODI and T20 career also never really took off even though it appeared that he had the array of shots and temperament for the shorter formats of the game. Averages of below 25 in both ODIs and T20Is and the manner of his dismissals also did him no favours.

Despite the apparent disdain by the selectors for his style of cricket, Imran has continued to perform reasonably well in domestic cricket where he has appeared in regional and national competitions, the most recent one being the Faysal Bank Super 8 T20 Cup where he scored a quick fire 41 in just 25 balls to help the Sialkot Stallions clinch the title against the Karachi Dolphins.

Whilst the numbers on the scorecard may not have always impressed observers, Imran Nazir to many remains the flawed genius who, if given more chances, may have turned the tables on his detractors. One such admirer of the Imran Nazir brand of batting is Imran Nazir's coach at ZTBL Wajahatullah Wasti. In Nazir’s debut Test innings at the Gaddafi Stadium in 1999 against Sri Lanka, both players shared a fascinating 104 run partnership and that clearly has left a lasting impression on Wasti.

As part of an exclusive interview with PakPassion.net, Wasti was full of praise for the now discarded Imran Nazir. While accepting flaws in Nazir’s temperament, Wasti described him as a talent that Pakistan could ill afford to ignore.

“Imran Nazir played with me on his debut in Lahore during the Asian Test Championships. When he first started out his technique was very good, and it still is. He performed very well at the beginning of his career - even in Test matches he had his own way of playing cricket. He is still playing like that but he is having problems with the inswinging delivery and I have worked hard with him on those issues.”

At the age of 30, Imran Nazir, can take comfort from the career progress of Misbah-ul-Haq who has emphatically demonstrated that age is no bar to any form ofiInternational cricket. In Wasti’s view, Imran’s recent domestic form has shown great promise and being ignored by the selectors would be a soul destroying experience for the player.

“He has batted reasonably well in domestic cricket, both in 4 day and 1 day games. He has also has done well in T20s in recent times as we saw in the Faysal Bank Super 8 T20 Cup for Sialkot Stallions but unfortunately he has not been asked to attend any camp nor picked for the national team. If you keep ignoring a player of his quality then he will, naturally, become disheartened.”

With all eye now focussed on the Twenty20 World Cup in September, Wasti also feels that Imran’s batting style could carry Pakistan to glory but for that he will need to be provided another opportunity to impress the selectors stating that “Imran has performed very well in the T20 format – firstly for the Lahore Badshahs in the now defunct ICL and in more recent times, he has played important innings for Sialkot Stallions and in the Bangladesh Premier League. He continues to be ignored and hasn't been picked for the national side. The selectors need to take into consideration the format which is suited to a player’s style of play. Imran Nazir should be given a chance. His temperament used to be a problem but it has improved a lot and I think he is ready to make a comeback. Imran could be an inspired selection for the T20 World Cup later this year."