"I Would Have Played with a Broken Hand" : Zulqarnain Haider by PakPassion.Net

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Player:	Zulqarnain Haider
Event:	Pakistan in England 2010

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DateLine: 17th August 2010

 

Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider's tour of England can best be described as a rollercoaster ride. Having sat on the sidelines for the first three tests of the ongoing tour, Haider was handed his big chance after Kamran Akmal's indifferent performance at Trent Bridge.

 

His test career though started disastrously with a first ball duck at Edgbaston, after he was caught behind off the bowling of Stuart Broad and things progressively got worse, or so it seemed, when he was given out leg before when facing his first delivery in his second innings.

 

A King Pair on debut was certainly not what the 24 year old had in mind. However Haider confidently referred the leg before decision using the UDRS and the decision was correctly overturned by the third umpire.

 

What followed was an innings of maturity, grit, determination and attitude. An innings that some of his more illustrious compatriots can look at and learn from. Haider scored a gritty 88 off 200 deliveries and at times left the England bowlers not knowing where to bowl to him. A partnership of 115 with Saeed Ajmal took Pakistan to 296 and meant that they had an outside chance of victory with England requiring 118 for victory.

 

The Pakistan victory did not happen at Edgbaston, but Haider showed the cricketing world that determination and guts can go a long way in any form of the game.

 

From the ecstacy of the score of 88 Haider's tour of England has turned sour with a hairline fracture of a finger ruling him out of the remainder of the series in England.

 

Haider speaking to PakPassion.net was naturally very disappointed at having to return to Pakistan especially given his fine display on debut.

 

"The injury actually occurred after the second test match against Australia at Headingley and was aggravated when Stuart Broad threw the ball at me when I was batting. My natural instinct was to stop the ball from hitting me with my hand and unfortunately it hit the finger that I had already damaged."

 

Haider added that he was desperate to play for Pakistan and would have played even if the injury was even more serious.

 

"I'm very patriotic, I take great pride in playing for Pakistan and wearing the green cap. I have a taste for international cricket now and I want to establish myself in the Pakistan team. Injuries are part and parcel of the game, especially for a wicketkeeper and if it had been down to me, I would have played with a broken hand if my country needed me to. I would have played through the pain barrier."

 

Haider will shortly be returning to Pakistan and will firmly have one eye on the series against South Africa due to be played in October. However there was some good news for Haider as Aces Middle East, the Dubai-based sports management company have announced that they have added Haider to the list of players they represent, a list that includes names such as Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Fawad Alam amongst others.

 

Speaking to PakPassion.net Kamran Khan of Aces Middle East stated "that he was very excited about the signing of Zulqarnain Haider. We are very pleased to sign a player who has the capability to become one of the world's leading wicketkeeper/batsmen. Zulqarnain has a lot of potential and showed at Birmingham what he can achieve. I'd like to warmly welcome Zulqarnain to the Aces Middle East family."

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
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