We all have come across numerous inspiring stories on how athletes have shown great patience with regard to their game and have been able to achieve their goals with sheer hard work. One such story going around in the cricketing world currently is that of Pakistani batsman Fawad Alam.
The southpaw who scored a century on his debut saw himself being dropped only after three tests, credit to non-other than the infamous Pakistan cricket selection board, made a comeback into the national team after over a decade later and has been the subject of interest all over the world due to his brilliant batting display in the 2020-21 season. Let’s have a look into this through the data lens why has this been the case.
Fawad’s Debut
Fawad Alam caught everyone’s eye right from his test debut against Sri Lanka in 2009 (aged 24 at that time). Playing with a near mystifying batting stance, Fawad became the first Pakistani player to score a century on debut away from home. But even with so much promise shown on the debut, he lost his place from the national side with only two more appearances that year.
Building a name in the domestic scene
After being dropped from the national side, Fawad decided to give his all in the domestic cricket of Pakistan. Amassing over 8000 runs, which included 26 centuries at a marvellous average of 56.48, Fawad carved a name for himself as a prolific run-scorer in the domestic cricket scene. His statistics for this period were second only to Hanif Mohammad.
The Comeback
Fawad made his comeback to the national side after a period of nearly 11 years. The first match itself saw him returning to the pavilion on a duck. The second match too saw him making a very poor impact on the team’s performance. But fortunately, the selectors backed him for the third match (might have been a method to repent themselves for the mistake made in the last decade involving the same person), where Fawad didn’t fail to justify his selection. Scoring a ton against New Zealand, Fawad was just about to start with his real comeback.
The performance was followed with three more tons against three different opponents, proving that it was not a one-off incidence. In the process, Fawad became the fastest Asian to complete 5 centuries (in 22 innings), breaking the record of Cheteshwar Pujara who had the record on his name previously (5 centuries in 24 innings). The 35-year-old now has a total of 5 centuries and one-half century, displaying his brilliant century conversion rate, with a commendable average of 47.1. Not only he has justified his role by rising to the occasion at every possible scene (the fact that each of the centuries he scored was against a different country), his performance, too, has aged like a fine wine, giving a breath of fresh air for the Pakistani middle order which they were in need for many years.
The way forward
A guy who was deemed unfit to be in the 21-man squad of his national team is now ranked 21st in the world test ranking for the batsman, that too under 16 innings after his comeback. What Fawad has achieved at this age, has broken many unspoken cricketing norms and has surely bridged new rainbows for athletes to set their targets on.
Unfortunately, there are no more test matches scheduled for Pakistan for the remainder of 2021, but it’s a given that after the onslaught by Mr Fawad Alam in the 2020-21 season there will surely be additional cameras that will be keeping a track of this man. From here on, Fawad may or may not flourish further in his career but one cannot deny that he has left a story that will be recalled for many years to come.