‘I felt like leaving cricket altogether ‘

Nepotism in sports in Pakistan is a common phenomenon where athletes are selected based on personal likes and dislikes in the past.

When there is a discussion about how nepotism is affecting the sporting structure in the country, one of the names that instantly come into the mind of the general public is opening batter Imam-ul-Haq

The left-hander is the nephew of former Pakistan captain and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq who also selected him for the first time in 2017 for the ODI series against Sri Lanka.

Despite having outstanding numbers in the 50-over format, Imam continues to be called a ‘parchi’—slang for nepotism in the Urdu language.

Bol News had a chance to have a detailed discussion with the 26-year-old about how he dealt with such criticism over the years.

“I have learnt it from my elders at home and by playing cricket in the field that what eventually matters is self-belief. What matters is where you want to see your life,” said Imam. “Because of this reason, I don’t pay attention to what other people think about me. That’s not my job and that’s something I cannot control either. I have faced situations in my life where I felt like leaving cricket altogether because no matter what I do, people will always talk about how a relative of mine was the former Pakistan captain.

“But I am fortunate enough to get a lot of support from my relatives and friends. In a sport like cricket, your surroundings matter a lot and also how they are motivating you. Therefore, I believe that as of now, my journey is all about staying strong mentally.”

Keeping it simple

Imam was simply sensational in the recently concluded home series against Australia, especially in the 50-over format, where he finished as the leading run-getter in the three-match series with 298 runs, which is the highest against Kangaroos in the history of cricket.

Talking about those performances, the Lahore-born expressed delight over helping the side by making important contributions.

“Alhumdulilah my record in the One-Day Internationals has been always good,” he said. “I have never been dropped from the 50-over side. With the Test team, I have been travelling as the backup opener for more than 12 months now I am glad that I have managed to deliver the goods when finally given the task. In the ODIs, I tried to keep things simple and played per my strengths.”

Staying selfish

Despite such amazing performances, Imam has been often called ‘selfish’, not only by supporters but also by former cricketers.

Discussing that, Imam stated that if staying selfish makes him the best player in winning causes for Pakistan, then so be it.

“See, people can say that I am a selfish player but I believe my record speaks for itself,” he said.  “For me, the important thing is how my fellow players and the coaching staff respect me in the dressing. It doesn’t matter what people outside are saying about my performances or what the commentators think about how I play the game, what matters for me is the respect I am getting from my teammates.

“I have played with players like Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez and Sarfaraz Ahmed in the past and now the senior core includes captain Babar Azam, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi. All those players have always appreciated the way I play. Also, my record shows that I have the best record when the team ends on a winning note. If that makes me selfish then I believe I should stay selfish because by staying the way I am, Pakistan is winning.”

Friendship and bonding

While Imam has been prolific at the top of the order, at least in the ODI format, most of his success is down to his outstanding partnership record with captain Babar. The duo averages 78.25 per partnership, the highest ever in the 50-over format for pairs who have played 25 or more innings together.

Talking about the secret behind such success with the skipper, Imam was of the opinion that their friendship played a big role.

“If I have to be honest, I believe friendship and bonding play a big role in our success on the pitch as a batting pair,” he said. “We have been playing together since 2009. Since the days of U15, we are teammates which makes our bonding much better than most of the other pairs in international cricket. He knows my weaknesses and strengths and the same goes for me. Therefore, we try to accommodate each other while we are batting in the middle. We also try to ensure that we keep the other person calm as if we are playing a normal club match as we used to when we were young. All of these things are natural and thankfully they work for us and for the team.”

Future goals

Talking about his future goals, Imam remains determined to do well for the national team, especially in the ICC 2023 World Cup, which is scheduled to be organised in India.

“See, I have made peace with the fact that this criticism will not go away, at least in my case. Like in the series against Australia, I scored a lot of runs but even then a lot of people were critical of my performance and I know some are still waiting for me to fail so that they can get rid of me from the national team,” he said.  “In the last five years ever since I have made my debut for Pakistan, I have learnt that as a nation, if we don’t want to accept someone’s good work, we just won’t no matter what happens. Therefore, I know that despite having such good performances, where I average more than 50 runs per innings in ODIs, people often talk about why I am not being dropped from the side so imagine what they would do if I were going through a rough patch.”

He continued by saying: “After the 2019 ICC World Cup, I said that as long as my destiny is to play for Pakistan, no one can stop me from doing it. So I have stopped thinking about those things as I can’t control them and instead, I should focus on the controllable. As far as the 2023 World Cup is concerned, I think all of us would want to put our best performances so that we can get a positive result for the nation. We have 15-16 matches before the event which will give us some time to experiment.  I have had a word with Babar about what can be done individually or collectively as a team to increase our chances to win the ultimate prize. I am keen on producing performances which would be helpful for the national team.”