‘We wished to play like him’: Inzamam-ul-Haq names best ODI player ‘Pakistan has ever produced’

Despite such high praise for his former teammate, Inzamam-ul-Haq remains the top-spot holder in the list of most runs scored by a Pakistan cricketer in ODIs.

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq believes former opener Saeed Anwar is the best ODI player the country has ever produced. Hailing his hard-hitting abilities, Inzamam stated Anwar used to play shots which others could only dream of and that made him one of the best players in white-ball cricket.

File image of former Pakistan cricketer Saeed Anwar (R) with Mohammad Yousuf. (Reuters)

Anwar featured in 247 ODIs for Pakistan and scored 8824 runs. He also slammed 20 centuries and 43 half-centuries during the course of his illustrious career. Also, Anwar’s 194 against India in Chennai 1997 was the highest individual score by a batsman in ODIs for a very long time.

“Saeed Anwar’s batting was such that we wished to play like him,” Inzamam said in a YouTube video as quoted by PakPassion. “The shots that we’d dream of at night, he would play them in the morning.”

“Out of all the Pakistani batsmen, people say I had a lot of talent and I didn’t perform according to my talent, but I believe that the talent that Saeed Anwar had, no one else had.

“When he was batting, it looked like cricket was very easy. The ball didn’t seem to be seaming or swinging. When I batted alongside him, I enjoyed it a lot. He would put the bowler under pressure, making it easier for the others,” he added.

“I don’t think there has ever been a similar wristy player in Pakistan. I think Saeed Anwar is the best ODI player that Pakistan has ever produced. When you create an ODI XI, he will easily fit it. He started hard hitting in Pakistan.”

Despite such high praise for his former teammate, Inzamam remains the top-spot holder in the list of most runs scored by a Pakistan cricketer in ODIs. He takes the numero uno spot with 11739 runs and is also the only batsman from his nation to score in excess of 10000 runs in ODIs.

Mohammad Yousuf takes the second spot with 9720 runs while Anwar takes the third with 8824 runs. Shahid Afridi (8064) and Shoaib Malik (7534) complete the top five list.