Ijaz Ahmed - Sporting strips needed to keep Test cricket alive (16 Oct 1997)

16 October 1997

Sporting strips needed to keep Test cricket alive

Sports Correspondent

LAHORE, Oct 15: Dashing Test cricketer Ijaz Ahmad has said that sporting wickets are vital to keep Test cricket alive in Pakistan. He was speaking at a function to honour him, Ali Naqvi and Azhar Mahmood for their performances against India and South Africa.

Ijaz Ahmad described the wicket of Rawalpindi Stadium, where the first Test was played against South Africa totally as a batting strip. That pitch can be a paradise for batsmen but is killer for the Test cricket," Ijaz said.

He said he always enjoyed playing cricket at Rawalpindi Stadium, but this time, he felt that the wicket had changed.

Ijaz Ahmad said that Pakistani players were used to playing on dead wickets at home and that was the reason why they faced problems abroad while playing on fast strips there.

He said Pakistani players were also facing psychological problems that they would have been ousted from the team if failed to put up good performance. Then an international player had to play in the domestic cricket where infrastructure was very poor and could not adjust himself to that set up. He said the Australian and English players were not facing such problems. They would play for their countries, if expelled from their teams so they did not feel any pressure or fear.

While answering a question, Ijaz Ahmad said the fitness problems were on the increase due to heavy schedule. He said "We are playing 40 to 45 matches in a year, most of them in hot weather, while English players are playing 25 to 30 matches, in the same period, that too, in cold weather so they are not facing fitness problems like us."

He said he had played a memorable innings in the crunch one-day international match against India which helped Pakistan win the three-match series 2-1.

He said that he, by himself requested captain Saeed Anwar to send him as opener in that match because he wanted to play without a pressure. 'I feel some pressure while playing at one-down position because our opening pair was not performing well". "Thank God I lived up to the expectations of the nation and justified the decision", Ijaz said. To investigate in match-fixing allegations over the Pakistani cricketers, Ijaz Ahmad suggested the PCB to check the accounts of the players and their source of income.

Ijaz supported the PCB decision of signing contract with the national players before the start of the cricket season.

Azhar Mahmood said that he availed chances that came his way and finally got a Test cap. He said that he was somewhat nervous in the early stages of his maiden Test innings, especially against Alan Donald and Shuan Pollock but, soon settled down and played his strokes free and got 100 mark.

Ali Urooj Naqvi said he was not expecting a Test cap in a short period. He said he would try to maintain his position in Pakistan team.

Source:: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)