Inzamam-ul-Haq by the numbers, and the innings that made him
8,830 Test runs at 49.60 and 11,739 in one-day cricket, from a batter who hit the ball harder than anybody and ran between the wickets worse than anybody.
Inzamam-ul-Haq scored more Test runs than any Pakistani and more one-day runs than any Pakistani, and he is remembered for two things: hitting the ball extremely hard, and being run out an extraordinary number of times.
- 8,830 Test runs at 49.60, from 120 Tests, both Pakistani records
- 11,739 one-day runs, also a Pakistani record
- 60 in the 1992 World Cup semi-final, from 37 balls, at 19 years old
- He was run out 40 times in one-day internationals, which is also a record
The record
| Format | Matches | Runs | Average | Span |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 120 | 8,830 | 49.60 | 1992-2007 |
| ODIs | 378 | 11,739 | 39.52 | 1991-2007 |
The full record is on his player page.
The 1992 semi-final
Auckland, March 1992. Pakistan needed 124 from 15 overs against New Zealand in a World Cup semi-final and had made almost no progress.
Inzamam, 22 years old and in his first tournament, came in and made 60 from 37 balls. Pakistan won with an over to spare and then won the final.
It is the innings that made his career and it is also the innings that Imran Khan points to when explaining his own selection policy: a young player picked on potential, thrown into the biggest match available, and backed.
He made 42 from 35 in the final four days later.
The batting
He hit the ball as hard as anybody of his generation and did it with almost no apparent effort.
The method was based on an extraordinarily still head and an unusual amount of time. He played later than almost anybody, which meant fast bowlers found him difficult to hurry, and he was among the very best players of genuine pace in a period that had a great deal of it.
Against spin he was equally comfortable, using his feet or playing back with soft hands, and he was almost impossible to bowl at on a turning subcontinental pitch.
The one weakness that was worked on was the short ball early in an innings, and the plan required somebody bowling at 145 to execute it. Very few could.
The running
He was run out 40 times in one-day internationals, which is the record, and a substantial number of times in Tests.
The reason is straightforward: he was a large man who did not run quickly and who called late. Partnerships with him involved a specific kind of anxiety and several of his team-mates have said so publicly and affectionately.
It is genuinely part of the record. A batter who is run out that often has cost his side wickets that a faster player would not have lost, and the runs are the answer to it.
The 329
His highest Test score is 329 against New Zealand at Lahore in 2002, which is the highest by a Pakistani and one of a small number of triple centuries in the sport's history.
Pakistan made 643 and won by an innings. The innings lasted more than nine hours and contained 38 fours and 9 sixes, which is an unusual amount of aerial hitting in an innings of that length.
The captaincy
He captained Pakistan in 31 Tests and 87 one-day internationals, winning eleven Tests, and the period included the two most contested incidents of his career.
The Oval, 2006. Umpires ruled that Pakistan had altered the condition of the ball and awarded five penalty runs. Pakistan refused to take the field after tea in protest, and the match was awarded to England — the only forfeited Test in the sport's history. The ball-tampering charge was subsequently dismissed and the result was later reversed to a forfeit and then back again by administrative decision.
The 2007 World Cup. Pakistan lost to Ireland and went out in the group stage, and the coach Bob Woolmer died the following day. Inzamam retired from one-day cricket immediately afterwards.
Neither is a cricketing verdict on him and both are what the captaincy is remembered for.
Country and role narrow it. The ODI column at 378 is the fastest separator.
Inzamam-ul-Haq — The innings that took Pakistan to the 1992 World Cup final came from nowhere, at twenty-two. Full record
The Pakistani record
He passed Javed Miandad's Test run record in 2007 and holds the one-day record as well.
The two of them are the batters Pakistani cricket has produced in the largest quantity, and they are opposites: Miandad combative, improvisational and quick between the wickets; Inzamam calm, orthodox and slow.
Both averaged around fifty across fifteen years for a side that was unpredictable around them, which is the more relevant similarity.
The Test record, in context
49.60 across fifteen years, in a side that was inconsistent around him and played very little cricket at home for part of that period.
Pakistan lost home advantage entirely after the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009 and played its home matches in the United Arab Emirates for a decade. That is after Inzamam's career, but the instability that preceded it — boards changing, captains changing, tours cancelled — was constant through it.
A batter averaging near fifty for fifteen years in that environment is doing something that a batter in a stable side is not.
Against pace, specifically
The consistent testimony from the fast bowlers of his era is that he was the hardest of the subcontinental batters to bowl at.
The reason given is time. He picked up length very early and played very late, which against a bowler at 150 kilometres an hour is the only thing that works. He was comfortable on the back foot against genuine pace in a way that most players from slow, low pitches are not.
His record in Australia, England and South Africa is good, which for a Pakistani batter of that period is unusual and is the strongest evidence for the point.
What he did afterwards
He became Pakistan's chief selector, twice, and a coach, and the tenure was characteristically contested.
The most durable thing from it is that he backed several young players who went on to long careers, which is consistent with how his own career started: he was picked at 22 on the basis of potential rather than of first-class figures, by a captain who trusted his own judgement over a scorecard.
- The 1992 semi-final at 22
- Being run out constantly
- The Oval forfeit
- Hitting the ball very hard
- 8,830 Test runs at 49.60, the Pakistani record
- 11,739 one-day runs, also the record
- 31 Tests as captain in a turbulent period
- Playing later than almost anybody, which is why
The one-day method
11,739 runs at 39.52 in a format he was frequently said to be too slow for.
He batted at three or four and his role was to bat through the middle overs, which in one-day cricket of that period was the least glamorous job available and the one that decided most matches. A side that loses two early wickets needs somebody who will still be there in the fortieth over, and he was.
The strike rate was around 74, which is ordinary now and was normal then. What separated him was that he almost never got out to a poor shot in the middle overs, which meant Pakistan's collapses — and there were many — usually started at the other end.
Where he sits in our dataset
Difficulty tier 1 on the player list. Pakistan, batter, 1991 to 2007 has one answer, and the runs column confirms it against Miandad.
- 8,830 Test runs and 11,739 one-day runs, both Pakistani records
- 60 from 37 in the 1992 World Cup semi-final, at 22
- 40 one-day run-outs, which is also a record
- A triple century, and the only forfeited Test in the sport's history
The short version
He holds both of Pakistan's batting records and is remembered for one innings at 22 and for being run out. The method — a still head and more time than anybody — is what produced fifteen years at an average near fifty.
For the batter he passed, see Javed Miandad by the numbers, and for the captain who picked him, Imran Khan by the numbers.