'He will easily fit in any all-time ODI XI' - Inzamam-ul-Haq names the best Pakistan batsman till date

Inzamam-ul-Haq is the leading run-getter for Pakistan in international cricket and is probably one of the finest batsmen to have played the game. Going by the stats, it is not so difficult to assume that Inzamam is the best batsman that the country has produced. However, Inzy doesn’t agree as he believes that one of his former teammates is the best ODI batsman to have come out of Pakistan.

In a video on YouTube, Inzamam referred Saeed Anwar as the best Pakistani ODI batsman. Anwar is the third-highest run-getter for Pakistan in the one-day format. The former opener was one of the best in the business during his time. He has played several memorable innings in white-ball cricket which has established him as one of the legends of the game.

His knock of 194 against India in 1999 was the highest ODI score until 2010 when Sachin Tendulkar surpassed and scored the first double ton in ODI cricket, “Saeed Anwar’s batting was such that we wished to play like him. The shots that we’d dream of at night, he would play them in the morning,” Inzi said on his YouTube channel.

He started hard-hitting in Pakistan: Inzamam-ul-Haq

Inzamam-ul-Haq further said that people have often regarded him as the most talented batsman from Pakistan but he believes that Anwar’s talent was unmatchable. Inzy also credited Anwar for starting the trend of hard-hitting batting in Pakistan. “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.”

Even though Inzamam is the only player from Pakistan to have gone past 10,000 ODI runs, there is no doubt that Saeed definitely had the potential to even go past him. Anwar was especially known for his wristy play and Inzamam pointed out that by saying, “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.”

Anwar had made his ODI debut in 1989 and went on to play 247 matches in the format. He scored 8824 runs with 20 centuries and 43 fifties. The stylish left-handed opener had also played 55 Tests and scored 4052 runs with 11 centuries and 25 fifties. Since his retirement, Pakistan has struggled to find an opener who has the ability like him. His prolific record at the top of the order is still unmatchable.

Watch the video here