Re: Life Ban Lifted From Saleem Malik
^ well depends... his sentence was given out by a very shady character, ataaarni general malik qayyum, who has been known to receive bribes, and switches his loyalty position lots of times, not to mention the fact that hes not a capable guy. Honestly, that doesnt matter, what we need is malik to make better batsmen out of the present lot. It was only in Malik's time that we last saw a Pakistani side which had a strong and reliable batting force.
He should put his name forward as the candidate for new Cricket Coach of Pakistan after Lawson.
Also, how can we forget his heroics where he took on the mighty Windies pace attack with a plastered broken arm (thanks to Courtney Walsh). He would often switch from being right handed to left handed because of the pain he was in, and nevertheless saved the game for Pakistan. If you are in a situation like this, the last thing you can ask for is an Ambrose/Walsh pace attack.
Ask Omar abut that incident, he told me a funny story about that incident.:D
Re: Life Ban Lifted From Saleem Malik
I wasn't an ardent cricket follower back in the days when Malik was a regular in the team... but from what little I remember of him in the early 90s'... he seemed like a good batsman with sound technique. Keeping aside his shady dealings which can't be condoned, I'm sure he will have some tips to offer to the batsmen.
I dont think that's true, after that he bounced back with a successful series in England, which included a 150+. Also, his career took off again in 1994 as he had the highest batting average for Pakistan (suprisingly took alot of wickets too, and was a good fielder), along with a test series home win against Australia in 1994 under his captiancy (not many Pakistani captains have done that), where he had a double century in Rawalpindi as well as another century in Lahore.
I still remember the double century was actually a match saving captain's knock from him where he and Sohail saved the match for us. Pakistan managed to beat Australia 1-0.
So many memories I have of Malik's performances. What about his knock against India some 20 years ago when he left the Eden Garden crowd stunned with his 72 of 36 balls??
A classic player of off side (still remember his cover drives) and was one of the best against quality spinners. Not to forget a very deceptive extra extra slow bowler.
I still remember the double century was actually a match saving captain's knock from him where he and Sohail saved the match for us. Pakistan managed to beat Australia 1-0.
I was there watching at the stadium, it was a brave knock. Warne was very frustrated ;)
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So many memories I have of Malik's performances. What about his knock against India some 20 years ago when he left the Eden Garden crowd stunned with his 72 of 36 balls??
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Yep, I posted an article about that knock before that post...
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A classic player of off side (still remember his cover drives) and was one of the best against quality spinners. Not to forget a very deceptive extra extra slow bowler.
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Indeed! He had about 90 ODI wickets!
he was as good player of wristy strokes as azhar udeen, his flicks off his pads, on drives through mid on and midwickets...and specially his pull shots against warne was single most important reason Pak won against AUS that season.
I remember listening to Mark taylor commentry in 1999 where he mentioned that malik was the best player against shane warne that he has seen as his ability to pull the ball, that was slightly short of length was the difference between him and other batsman who played shane in 90's.
He was the first guy who started out moving down the leg side and standing 8 - 12 inches outside leg stump, even when bowler was only half way in his runup, it was pretty errogant and beautiful to watch. people have been moving outside leg for a while but Malik was first who started doing it even when bowler was still in his run up.
I remember that one stroke that he hit of chris cairns on the final ball of the inning in either gujranwala of sialkot in 1996 where he made his same move down the legside even before cairns let the ball go, chris bowled a yorker length ball about foot and half out side off and Malik was was standing about 8 inches outside leg stump, went down on one knee and slashed the ball over point for the last ball six. The was an amazing sight.
Another incident that not very many people remmeber is how he hit Murali for 3 back to back sixes in one of the ODIs in SL, in the final over. you only associate these amazing strokes with people like Lara and Sachin and Mark waugh.
Malik was a true fighter, extremely skillful but someone who achieved no where near his potential, too many times he would just lose interest while batting and getting settled in. Another reason of his underachievements was because for the most part of his career he was never threatned of his spot in the team and he didnt mind being the 2nd best batsman of Pak from 1987 -- 1992, and settled for a lot less than what he could have achieved.
Re: Life Ban Lifted From Saleem Malik
i remember the calcutta knock very well
interestingly till that time Salim Malik was known to be a tuktuki player - so when it was around 8 or 9 wickets down to last 4 overs with only tailenders in tow - we were smug that this was ours as most of the explosive players were back in pavilion and the asking rate was next to impossible
and then he started hitting almost like a mad bull let loose...
i remember the calcutta knock very well
interestingly till that time Salim Malik was known to be a tuktuki player - so when it was around 8 or 9 wickets down to last 4 overs with only tailenders in tow - we were smug that this was ours as most of the explosive players were back in pavilion and the asking rate was next to impossible
and then he started hitting almost like a mad bull let loose...
Yeah, back then cricket wasn't the batsman dominated game as its turning out to be. The best part was Malik's confidence, I am sure someone can upload or point us to that video on youtube.
Malik used to be my favourite batsman. I've never seen anyone of his skill ever. An under-achiever... and someone who ruined it for himself I guess... if we believe that he was involved. I actually bumped into him at Murree Golf course back in 1996-97. We ended up playing golf together... quite a nice and down to earth person. Polite as well. Pity he never achieved his full potential... could have been one of the greats.
Re: Life Ban Lifted From Saleem Malik
^ He was quite fond of golf, when the team was in Sri Lanka under his captaincy, he’d be playing golf on all the days he was off.
He had pretty good reflexes too, heres a funny clip:
Re: Life Ban Lifted From Saleem Malik
Yeah, he was good at golf. I played him once and he was way better. I won still, because luckily I had a couple of hundred bucks in my volet.
Re: Life Ban Lifted From Saleem Malik
Pakistan a funny state. Whoever is evil today, will be the hero tomorrow. Whoever is hero today, will be declared evil in the future. No department has any credibility. It blows my mind.