Aug 23, 2001 05:55 PM
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Javed Miandad was a very good batsman. He was in fact one of the best in business in his career span of two decades. He was not a very flamboyant batsman and hence got overshadowed by other batsmen like Vivian Richards. He has got immortalized by his last ball winning six off Chetan Sharma. This exploit of his had had such a psychological impact on Indians that it took us several years to recover and beat Pakistan in one day internationals.
1) Gritty: He was a gritty and determined batsman. Though his technique was nothing to write about, he would just settle down into his groove and frustrate the opponent bowlers. He was an extremely dedicated and professional cricketer.
2) Intelligent: He was a player gifted with a phenomenal cricketing brain. He never succumbed to pressure. He would very easily adapt himself depending on the situation and play the role of a grafter or a hitter, as the situation would demand. Although he had an awkward batting stance, he was an improvisor par excellence who was equally at ease with unorthodox shots as with orthodox shots. His mere presence at the crease was enough to keep the morale of his team high.
3) Street Smart: He was an excellent runner between the wickets. He understood the nuances of cricket very well to realize the importance of quick singles. He was amongst the first international cricketers to realize this. He would never let the pressure build up, as he kept on rotating the strike while he used to settle down. Before one could realize, he used to reach 25 – 30 runs and then open up.
4) Honest: He, as a coach of Pakistan team had the guts to come out in the open and say that he suspected some players in Pakistan team of match fixing and deliberately throwing matches, whereas he too could have made good money by colluding with them.
One of the very little known facts about him is that he had a stumping in tests and two in one dayers to his name. He had also taken 17 wickets in test cricket and 7 in one dayers.
The summary of his career exploits is given below, which does not quite do justice to the value of his batting for Pakistan.
Tests:
Mat Runs H.S. Avrg. 100 50 Catches
124 8832 280* 52.57 023 43 93
One Dayers
Mat Runs H.S. Avrg. 100 50 Catches
233 7381 119* 41.70 008 50 71
He could have become great, but he had major behavioural shortcomings, due to which he is remembered more for the wrong reasons.
1)Indiscipline: He used to often argue with the umpires and the opponents. One would always remember his verbal arguments with Dennis Lillee and Kiran More. Though Lillee was no saint either, but Miandad normally carried it too far. He would in the thick of action, resort to mimicking and verbal abuse. What a shame, there was no suspension for bringing disrepute to the game in those days. Miandad could easily have spent a quarter of his career in suspension.
Yet, all said and done, he was a good cricketer who won several matches single handedly for his team.
