Published 15:26 IST, July 13th 2020
Inzamam-ul-Haq recalls Sunil Gavaskar shunning Indo-Pak rivalry for giving batting advice
Inzamam-ul-Haq met Sunil Gavaskar in England during a charity match as a youngster back in 1992 and sought his advice on facing short-pitched balls.
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Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has credited India's batting legend Sunil Gavaskar in helped him overcome his weakness against short-pitched deliveries. While talking about the episode on his YouTube channel, Inzamam-ul-Haq said that he was clueless about English pitches when England toured England in 1992 and found short-pitched deliveries hard to negotiate.
Inzamam-ul-Haq on how Sunil Gavaskar helped him negotiate short pitch bowling
Pakistan went to England after winning the 1992 World Cup under the captaincy of former captain and current Prime Minister Imran Khan and Inzamam-ul-Haq said that he didn’t have any idea about playing on England pitches. He said that he was going through a bad patch due to his inability to play short-pitched deliveries. Inzamam-ul-Haq further revealed that it was during that tour that he got a chance to meet Sunil Gavaskar during a charity game where he spoke about his problem.
Recalling his meeting with Gavaskar, Inzamam said that during the charity match, he asked for tips to deal with short deliveries. In his reply, the 'Little Master' just asked him to stop thinking about short-pitch balls or bouncers because thinking about that will get him trapped. He further said that Gavaskar told him that when the bowler would deliver the ball he would automatically understand. Inzamam-ul-Haq, in the video, said that he implemented Sunil Gavaskar’s advise during net practice and soon his mindset changed, which really helped him from 1992 till the time he retired.
While praising Sunil Gavaskar, Inzamam spoke about his wish of watching the Indian legend batting live in the stadium and said that there were several great players in Gavaskar's era as well, naming the likes of Javed Miandad, Viv Richards, Garry Sobers and Don Bradman but none of them could reach the 10,000-run mark in Tests unlike the former India captain, making him special.
Inzamam-ul-Haq showers praise on Sachin Tendulkar's bowling
Inzamam-ul-Haq himself fell short of Javed Miandad's initial Pakistan record of most number of Test runs at the time of his retirement in 2007. However, he had lot of positive interactions with other Indian cricketers off the field as well, although he was intense on the field.
Back in February, Inzamam ul Haq has said that India cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar troubled him more as a bowler than the likes of Australian great Shane Warne. While speaking on his YouTube channel, Inzamam said that Sachin Tendulkar's bowling abilities were another proof of his genius.
He said that Tendulkar was a genius cricketer who could bowl leg-spin, off-spin and medium pace. He said that he faced many great leg-spinners and never had troubles in reading their googlies but it was only Tendulkar who troubled him and got him out many times.
(IMAGE: INZAMAM-UL-HA/ YOUTUBE / BCCI)
15:26 IST, July 13th 2020