20 Intriguing facts about Ijaz Ahmed- A Talent marred by controversies

20 Intriguing facts about Ijaz Ahmed- A Talent marred by controversies: Ijaz Ahmed is a former Pakistani cricketer who was known for his swashbuckling repertoire of strokes. Ahmed was a bottom-hand player and was especially very good off his legs though his powerful square cuts were as brutal as anything for the opponent bowlers. His trademark shot in which he chops the ball past point is etched in the hearts of his fans forever.

Ijaz was very apt at playing cover drives as well and most importantly he had the ability to change gears as and when the situation demanded. Ahmed was a barbarous puller of the cricket ball. He was a right-handed batsman who had the possession of a round-arm action though he was left-arm medium pacer.

Today, on the occasion of his 47^th birthday, we list 20 Intriguing facts about Ijaz Ahmed- A Talent marred by controversies:

1. Birth:

Ijaz Ahmed was born on 20 September, 1968 in Sialkot, Punjab.

2. Domestic Debut:

Ijaz Ahmed made his First-Class and List-A debut in 1983/84 season.

3. Poor International Debut:

He made his ODI debut against West Indies in 1986 but didn’t fare well and got out on 19 runs. While Ijaz made his Test debut against India at Chennai in 1987 but could only score 3 runs in his debut innings while in the 2^nd innings he didn’t got the chance to bat.

4. First Test century:

Ijaz Ahmed scored his first Test century against Australia at Faisalabad in 1988. More importantly, he helped the Pakistani side to recover from 25/4 to a respectable total of 316 runs on the board.

5. Master of Single figure scores:

Ijaz Ahmed had the tendency of getting out on single-figures in Test cricket. Out of his 92 innings in Test cricket, on 33 occasions he got out on single-figure scores. While his 54 innings yielded scores below 20 runs.

6. The year of emergence:

His year of glory in the whites came in 1995 as he accumulated 582 runs in 7 Test matches at an average of 48.50 with 2 centuries and 3 half-centuries. It was the most productive year of his Test career as far as making runs are concerned.

7. Bullish against Australia:

Australia has been one of the best sides in the world and Ijaz had a special love affair with them. He was very severe on the Aussie bowlers in Test cricket. In 14 Tests against them, he hammered 1,085 runs at an average of 47.17 with as many as 6 centuries which was half of his total number of Test match tons.

8. Most memorable knock:

Ijaz Ahmed scored the lone double century of his international career against Sri Lanka in 1999 Final match of the Asian Test Championship. He stroked 211 runs with the help of 23 fours and a six. Ahmed’s inning helped Pakistan amass a big 1^st first innings total and they won the Final by an innings and 175 runs.

9. Demolishing knock against the Indian’s:

Ijaz played a breath-taking knock of 139* runs against India at Lahore in 1997. His century came off only 68 balls. Ahmed scored 139 runs off just 84 balls with the help of 10 fours and 9 sixes. He marched Pakistan to victory in only 26.2 overs. They were chasing target of 217 runs.

10. World Cup 1999 Villian:

The right-hander who had top-scored in World Cup Final of 1999 for Pakistan against Australia was held responsible for team’s batting collapse and was subsequently dropped from the side. Many say that he was a victim of dark politics prevailing in Pakistan cricket.

11. Comeback:

Ijaz Ahmed did make a return to the national side against Australia in Tests and in Carlton and United series in ODIs. Ijaz even performed well in both the Test and ODI series but yet he was controversially dropped from the side which raised many eyebrows.

12. Yet another comeback:

Ijaz Ahmed made a surprising return to the side later that year during the Singapore Challenge tri-series. He was adjudged Man-of-the-Match in the first two matches of the series while he was the top-run scorer for Pakistan in the third match but unfortunately and surprisingly he was dropped from the side once again.

13. Retirement:

Finally after all his controversial exclusions from the side he suffered from slump in form and in 2003 announced his retirement from all formats of the game.

14. International career in numbers:

Ijaz Ahmed represented Pakistan in 60 Tests and scored 3,315 runs at an average of 37.67 with 12 centuries and same number of fifties. While he played 250 ODI matches for Pakistan in which he accumulated 6,564 runs with 10 centuries and 37 half-centuries.

15. Exceptional fielder:

Ijaz Ahmed is epitomized as the face of brilliance and radiance as far as fielding is concerned. He was generally stationed at the all important off-side positions where he has saved many runs for his side. He took 135 catches in his international career, 90 in ODIs and 45 in Tests.

16. Domestic career in numbers:

He featured in 169 First-Class matches and amassed 9,889 runs while in 371 List-A matches he aggregated 10,037 runs.

17. Man-of-the Match awards:

Ijaz Ahmed was adjudged Player-of-the-Match on 14 occasions in international cricket. He won the Man-of-the-Match award 12 times in ODIs and 2 times in Tests. He won the lone Player-of-the series award of his career against England in ODI cricket in 1996.

18. Tough time:

Ijaz Ahmed was controversially arrested on 25th March 2009.  He was accused of submitting a bogus bank cheque of 10 million rupees. It is said that Ijaz was mentally tortured by the police as well. On 16 May 2009, he was acquitted from all the charges. The Court had officially declared that the complaint was a attempt to spoil his name.

19. Pakistan’s Under-19 Coach:

On 20 October 2009, Ahmed was appointed as the Coach of Pakistan’s Under-19 cricket team by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Under his coaching, Pakistan reached the finals of the Under-19 World Cup 2010 held in New Zealand.

20. Family:

Former Pakistani cricketer Saleem Malik is Ijaz’s brother-in-law. He is married to the sister Saleem Malik’s wife. He has 4 daughters namely Hina,Neha,Safa and Ayesh.