Rana Naved-ul-Hasan has led the Pakistan attack with spirit and determination, reports Chloe Saltau.
The Pakistani bowler with the dashing looks, the Hollywood hair, the short fuse and the insatiable appetite for drama is in Lahore this weekend being interrogated by the board’s chairman about his commitment, behaviour and fitness.
The Pakistani bowler with the unknown reputation, the subtle swing and the receding hairline is in Australia, coping with the death of his father 10,000 kilometres away and bowling his heart out for his country.
“He is a star, I am not a star,” said Rana Naved-ul-Hasan of Shoaib Akhtar. “He is a good guy, a good man in the team, but I am different because I am not going outside to places like a disco. I don’t like beer and the other drinks. I am not one of the big bowlers.”
Without Pakistan’s big bowlers, speed demons Akhtar and Mohammad Sami, the less fashionable and little-known Rana has admirably carried the load during the one-day series, which will finish in Sydney today if Inzamam-ul-Haq’s men cannot level the finals series and force a third match to be played in Adelaide on Tuesday.
Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis believes the 26-year-old has provided a spirit that was missing from the campaign before he came into the team for the SCG Test, and promptly surprised Justin Langer with an inswinger that sneaked between bat and pad and skittled the West Australian for 13.
At the end of that Test, coach Bob Woolmer publicly expressed the team’s disappointment with Akhtar, who spent hours off the field complaining of back and hamstring injuries that eventually forced him home.
In his absence, Rana has been Pakistan’s workhorse, not its show pony. “He’s been a real fighter, especially since Shoaib went home. He’s the one who has really led from the front in the bowling line-up,” said Waqar. "He hasn’t really played enough cricket yet, because he went away in the middle (of his career) for four or five years to England.
“The amazing thing is he’s not a very tall guy but he’s very shrewd. He’s intelligent, with a beautiful action. He’s got what Pakistan has been missing, that spirit and that hunger to take wickets, and in the last few games he has been the one to inspire the guys around him, like (Abdul) Razzaq.”
The English connection is strong, for in four seasons Rana has become a legend of the Yorkshire leagues and in a solitary second XI game for Essex took seven wickets. Having finally earned regular national selection after injuries to Umar Gul, Shabbir Ahmed, Akhtar and Sami, Rana has quickly forged a reputation for fighting back from all kinds of hammerings.
He bowled nine no-balls against the West Indies in Adelaide and responded by producing a match-winning partnership with Razzaq to help upset Australia in Perth and taking 4-29 against the West Indies to help his country into the finals. Soon afterwards, his mother phoned with the news that his father, a keen cricketer and a big influence on his son’s career, had died.
“My mum convinced me to stay,” said Rana, whose emotional celebration after clinching Michael Clarke’s wicket in the first final hinted at the grief he was carrying. “She said stay there, because everything is in God’s hands. Play for Pakistan.”
Woolmer this week described his squad as a close-knit group that had moved on from the injuries, the reported sacking of the team manager, the chucking reports of two bowlers, the since-discredited rape allegation and the string of defeats.
The big-hearted performances of Rana have certainly helped. “He’s a really nice guy and a really tough cricketer. He wants to do well,” said Woolmer. "His emergence in the last two games was created by the fact that he bowled nine no-balls in Adelaide. He and I had a stern chat and he went off and worked on the problem.
“I’ve got to know him. He was a youngster and very shy, but he’s now expressing himself a lot more. His agility in the field, his enthusiasm, is a huge boon for us and something the rest of the team can take on board.”
He has impressed the Australians. “He swings the new ball quite a bit away from the right-handers and he’s got the ability to swing it both ways with the old ball,” said captain Ricky Ponting. “That’s where he’s done a lot of damage.”
Rana, Abdul Razzaq, Rao Ifthikar and Mohammad Khalil might not be as dangerous as a fit Akhtar, but they have certainly discredited his departing assertion that he alone was capable of unsettling the Australians. “It was just me up against seven batsmen who are all capable of scoring 200 each,” Akhtar said before leaving Australia.
But as Woolmer said last week: “There’s only one guy who did his own thing . . . and he’s not here anymore.”
:k: