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To play nationwide cricket for Pakistan shouldn’t be a simple process. The nation has produced legends after legends corresponding to Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Saeed Anwar, and Javed Miandad. But when you’re associated to certainly one of Pakistan’s most profitable captains Inzamam-ul-Haq, it turns into an much more troublesome process to deal with. The strain and scrutiny that comes alongside being associated to a batting nice was confronted by Pakistan opener, Imam-ul-Haq.
When Imam, who’s Inzamam’s nephew, was first picked for the Pakistan nationwide workforce for an ODI sequence in opposition to Sri Lanka in the UAE, the batsman confronted a number of accusations of nepotism from varied corners of social media. The followers questioned his place in the workforce, and in a current interview, the 24-year-old recalled that it grew to become actually troublesome for him to cope with the similar.
“To be honest, when I was picked for Pakistan, I only had one friend – Babar [Azam],” Imam informed former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta on his ESPNCrincinfo chat present Cricketbaazi. “But there was a communication gap between us because he was playing regularly for the national team and I was playing domestic cricket. So, we weren’t talking a lot.
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“Moreover, he was focussed on his cricket and he was in very good form and had scored two back-to-back centuries in the ODI series against Sri Lanka. Because his performances in the Test matches weren’t very good, he wanted to make up for it. So, he wasn’t talking much,” he added.
Speaking about the 2017 sequence in opposition to Sri Lanka, Imam recalled that he began staying away from everybody as a result of he felt disheartened. “When all of this started happening, I would have my meals all alone. It was my first tour and you know how it can get on the first tour. And whenever I would open my phone, there were people tagging me on social media posts or sending me stuff. I was very disheartened and couldn’t understand anything.
“ I stopped talking to my family because I didn’t want to put them under any pressure that I’m facing problems. I switched off and handed both my mobile phones to my manager, and said, ‘I can’t take this, please take them off me’,” he added.
“I remember crying in the shower for hours that I haven’t even played yet [he played the third ODI of the series in Abu Dhabi.It’s very easy for young players to get surrounded by self-doubt. The only thing running constantly in my mind was that I haven’t even played [for the national team] yet, what if I play and don’t perform well? Then my career will be over. I wouldn’t step a foot out of my room, fearing people might trouble me outside, because there is a large Pakistan community in Dubai.
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“So I didn’t play the first two matches of the series, Ahmed Shehzad played in them but he couldn’t perform [well]. In the team meeting after the second match, Mickey Arthur announced a 14-strong team for the next match, and I was included in that. And he said that you will be informed if you will be playing the night before [the match].
“But I didn’t get any call or message in the night, so I thought I wasn’t playing. We were living in Dubai, and from there we had to travel to Abu Dhabi on the match-day, which is a two-hour drive. So we had to leave around 11am-12pm for the match and I got his [Arthur’s] message at around 9.30am, which I still remember, ‘Immy, it’s your time, be ready and good luck.’”
“After that, I don’t remember anything. My mind was completely blank. I was hoping he hadn’t messaged me. He shouldn’t have. Because my confidence had hit the rock-bottom and I was feeling so low that I felt I won’t be able to perform in the match. I was focussing less on the match and more on what would happen after. What if I couldn’t perform? My career will get badly affected and everyone will say they were right to criticise me. Because the media was only discussing my inclusion in the side,” Imam concluded.
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