'I don't want to be a back-up bowler'
He was the surprise package on Pakistan's India tour. Now he's looking forward to bigger, better things
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It was my second year in county cricket and this time I was paired with Andrew Hall for Kent. Playing with, and against, international stars taught me a lot. I had earlier played at Sussex as well, with Mushtaq Ahmed. I played 10 first-class matches with Kent and managed 369 runs, with two centuries, as well as 27 wickets.
That is true. I have 527 first-class wickets and close to 4500 runs. Because I am now considered an allrounder, I have to work hard on my batting and bowling both. I have been playing first-class cricket for 10 years now, but I have only played seven ODIs since making my debut seven years ago. I'm called up for a game here and there due to injuries to senior players and that is the reason why I haven't been able to perform to the level that I can.
It was always my dream to play for Pakistan, and to make my Test debut against a team like India, and that too in India, was just overwhelming. Since it was a Test match, it allowed me to bowl long spells and prove to doubters that I can bowl in Test matches too. Seven wickets on debut and 44 in the first innings [in Bangalore in December 2007] - I can't really complain.
Individual performances merely played a rescue act in both series. We failed to click as a team and when you have your strike bowlers like Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul unfit, it is a blow to the team. We did not have enough resources to counter the experienced line-ups.
I played four matches in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and performed reasonably well, hopefully enough to get the nod for the tour matches and the ODI series against Zimbabwe. There is a domestic Twenty20 and limited-overs tournament after that series, and I'm hoping to perform there as well, so I'm in the reckoning for the Australia series. I don't want to be a back-up bowler called up whenever someone is injured. I want to be a worthy allrounder in all forms of cricket.
Faras Ghani is an editorial assistant at Cricinfo