Adelaide, March 17 (IANS) Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq says that opener Sarfraz Ahmed reminds him of batting great Javed Miandad.
The comparison comes after Sarfraz played an unbeaten match-winning knock of 101 runs against Ireland in a World Cup Pool B match on Sunday to take his team through to the last-eight of the mega-event.
“Sarfraz's elevation to the opener's slot in the last two matches gave Pakistan's middle-order enough cushion. Sarfraz reminds me of Javed Miandad's art of rotating the strike," Inzamam wrote in a column for the International Cricket Council (ICC) website.
"Whenever batsmen take singles and twos, it not only disturbs and frustrates the bowlers but disallows them from exploring the weak areas. And that's what exactly Sarfraz did on Sunday. The rotation of strike gave confidence to Ahmed Shehzad as they both raised the first century opening- stand for Pakistan in this tournament.”
Praising the 27-year-old further, Inzamam said great batsmen are the ones who usually finish off a game and Sarfraz has all the qualities to become one.
“Great batsmen are those who finish off the game and do not lose concentration after scoring 50s, 60s or 70s. Sarfraz has all these ingredients. He adjusts his strokes so quickly that it makes life difficult for even a good bowler,” said the 45-year-old.
The former right-handed batsman, who has 11,739 One-Day International (ODI) runs, feels Associate teams like Ireland should be given more chances against Test playing nations so that they can improve their skills.
“There's a talk of a 10-team World Cup in 2019 and I am all in favour of it. For Associate teams like Ireland, what the ICC needs to do is to arrange regular ODI series against Test nations, say minimum of 10-12 ODIs in a year, instead of just organising international matches among the associate countries,” he said.
“It could help lower-ranked sides, especially Ireland, to be in the top eight of the rankings and qualify directly for the 2019 World Cup.”