Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-Ul-Haq has revealed the problems he faced when his team was set to tour India in 2005. He mentioned that many senior and important players had refused to go on the tour for selfish reasons.
“Some key players had even refused to tour India in this series and I was left with a very weak attack against a very strong Indian batting line-up. I think they believed that after losing this series I would be removed as captain and that could create chances for them,” he said.
The Bangalore Test, which Pakistan won by 168 runs, was also Inzamam’s 100th Test match. He mentions, “My 100th Test match (in Bangalore) was a very special moment for me. The entire tour was very special. The Bangalore Test was very important for us as a team. When we were going for that India series in 2005, all analysts and former cricketers claimed this was the weakest Pakistan team touring India.”
He also says that experts believed that Pakistan would be squashed by a strong Indian team given their strong batting lineup and Pakistan’s weak bowling attack.
Walking down the memory lane, he revealed that then Pak coach Bob Woolmer disagreed with his decision to declare early to put pressure on India. Electing to bat, Pakistan had posted 570 in first innings. In reply, India were 449 all out. The visitors then declared at 261 for 2, a decision which Woolmer believed was “wrong”.
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“When I was about to declare in the second innings, I sent a message to Bob Woolmer that I wanted to give some overs to India today. Woolmer said that the captain and vice-captain should make that call. ”I asked Younis who agreed with me. I wanted to take a chance and called for the declaration. When I came back Woolmer said that he thought my decision to declare was wrong,” Inzamam said in his YouTube channel.
However, Inzamam took the decision saying that India had to save the whole of the fifth day and once they got the dangerous Virender Sehwag out, who was dismissed run out by Abdul Razzaq; the captain knew that he had a chance.
“That day, Razzaq ran Sehwag out. I thought that if Razzaq can run a batsman out, then it is definitely our day. India went into defensive mode after that wicket. I attacked with our fielders and even a batsman like Sachin Tendulkar couldn’t score. When we got to the last part of the match, we got an extra six or seven overs which vindicated my decision to declare early,” he said.
(PTI inputs)
