Saeed Anwar confirms retirement

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** ISLAMABAD **

One of Pakistan’s finest and most prolific opening batsmen Saeed Anwar is expected to announce his retirement in the next few days as he has given up hopes of playing for the country again after being constantly ignored by the selectors after the World Cup.

The stylish left-hander said he was seriously thinking about retiring but wanted to do it in a way that would be “beneficial” to Pakistan cricket.

“I don’t want to sever all my ties with cricket which has given me a lot of fame and wealth. But the time has come to call it a day,” Anwar told The News.

Anwar said he had been disappointed at being dropped from the team after the World Cup as he thought he had done fairly well in the tournament. “I don’t know why the selectors have ignored me, and apparently they’re not in a position to pick me again.”

Anwar’s illustrious career started in 1989 and spanned over 14 years during which he accumulated 4,052 runs in 55 Tests with 11 hundreds and 25 fifties at an average of 45.52.

For years he formed a formidable opening partnership with Aamir Sohail and appeared in 247 One-day Internationals scoring 8,823 runs at an average of 39 with 20 hundreds and 43 half-centuries. He holds the record for the highest one-day score of 194 that he made against India in 1997.

Anwar had scores of 23, 29, 25, 101 and 40 not out in the World Cup early this year when all the Pakistan batsmen struggled and his was the only hundred – scored against India – from the team in the tournament.

Anwar, who led Pakistan in brief spells during his career, faced an uphill battle with a bad knee and then an injured wrist and missed many matches in 2000 and 2001 before making a comeback in June 2002 for the Challenge series against Australia.

“I’ve enjoyed playing for Pakistan and it has always been a great honour for me to wear the national blazer. I relished the challenge of facing the world’s fastest bowlers and scoring runs against them,” he said.

He admitted that after the World Cup he had waited for a call from the selectors “but it never came”.

Anwar was among the eight senior players who were dropped from the squad after Pakistan’s ignonimous exit from the World Cup.

i agree with saeed bhai why isn’t he being considered he was actually one of the players who performed well at the world cup, its that good for nothing budha’ aamir sohail who seems to have it in for lots of the seniors… :mad: :mad2: :mad3:

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i think he is doing right, if he is retireing

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^^ he isn't retiring out of his will though mate, he is being forced into the decision

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who the hell made Aamir Sohail the chief Selector :mad3:

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Saeed is the best Pakistani batsman since Javen Miandad by a hell of a lot. Obviously his time is mostly over now so weather he retires immediately or not is not a big deal.
What always impressed me about Saeed was his ability to rise to the occasion for the big games.

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Time to retire for Saeed.

Bye bye Mr. Anwar. You'll be missed for your consistency

in giving catches to the slip fielders.

:)

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a guy who returned to international cricket n scored 219 runs in a tournament like the worldcup gets unceremoniuosly dumped like that. just a pathetic pathetic decision by our selectors and by board.

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Amir Jerk needs to get his ugly presence out of that placee!!!

he was a total loser and a bit of success he gained was bcz of saeed's consistent support. warna this manhoooos face was never a pleasant sight on the cricket field!!!!!!!

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What a sad day for Pakistani cricket if he actually retires... I firmly believe Saeed bhai still has atleast 2-3 more years of cricket left in him... remember, batsmen have a longer career than, lets say, fast bowlers. Case in point was Clive Lloyd, who played for WI even in his 40s. Its a shame that the only Pakistani player who was consistent in the last big tournament (world cup) has not been given respect and not been selected by the selectors and the board. True, we have to look to the future, but trust me, if we keep dumping legends like Saeed Anwar and Wasim Akram like that, while they still have few years of cricket left in them, the future will keep getting farther and bleaker. If performance was the only criteria, both Saeed and Wasim should have been in... however, if politics, team-control and personal dislikes matter, then its a different issue. Whatever respect I had for Rashid Latif as a player and a person, I am very quickly loosing it due to these factors.

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its about time :~)

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Great news for Indian Cricket...I suppose they can now revive the cricketing ties with Pak...lol :)

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saeed anwar could be 90 years old and you would still see people in this forum bitching about why he is not playing. get that through your thick head that we are building for 07 WC. now you might say, well saeed has 2 more years left in him. okay fine, suppose he retires at 05. then you have only 2 years to bring up someone young that can stand the pressure of world cup. and quit bad mouthing amir, he selected the teams that won in sharjah, went to the final in SL, a match we could've won if idiot shoaib did'nt mess with the damn ball, and we could've won the series in england if hafeez did'nt drop the ball gazillion times. now i know would've, could've, should've does'nt mean anything. i will give you that. but in not ONE matches in those series did i see a player not give his 110%. they were out there trying their best and inshallah in 2 years you will all be praising amir for picking this team. need i remind you about how in the WC "senior" players in the field "jogged" to get to the ball. how just by looking at inzy coming in to bat you knew he was'nt going to last 5 minutes. how they walked to score a single in a situation where just a little, not a whole lot hustling could give them 2 runs. amir came in and gave these senior players a ass whopping and told them, hey if you are not going to give it all that you have for your country, you are not getting picked. but the sad thing is, some of the thick headed pakistanis in this forum are too dumb to understand that.

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:k: :k: :k: :k: :k: well said buddy!

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he's my fav and he is going
so sad
such a stylish batsman

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I was not aware that the sole criteria of a players' class was whether or not he can play in the 4 year world cup intervals or not... There is no substitute for experience and class... People like you kept saying that Javed was too old and as a result, he pretty much spent the last 2 years of his career (from 1994 to 1996) on the sidelines... but even then, he almost won us the last match he played until he got run out (WC 96 quarter-final versus India). What happened since Javed retired? How many Javeds have we produced since his retirement? If Javed then, and Saeed now, be allowed to continue while they still have a few years cricket left in them, and are performing well, and 2 or 3 young players constantly play with them under their wings in a systematic manner, I have no doubt that we would be able to polish raw talent and produce class players. I dont have anything personal against Amer Sohail, infact I think he was a great batsman... but his selection policies leave a lot to be desired, and thats a view thats held by many people in the field. No matter what, I would still hope that Pakistani team does well, and I feel the younger players are trying very hard, but you dont just dump all your great players in the name of reforming the team... specially if their performance warrants a place in the team, as is the case with Saeed Anwar. Another Case in point is Steve Waugh, who at the age of 38 still maintains his place in the team and nurtures youngsters... and I am sure that the Australian selectors know that he won't be around for more than one more year, definitely not until the next world cup.

Additionally, I dont think that the moderators appreciate the language that you use, rana... I dont see why you would need to use filthy language to get your point across. I thought this was a forum for mature discussion.

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Well said Jayz, but I disagree a little.
Saeed Anwar maybe stylish, great and match winner at times, but the matter of a fact is, he is past his best, even if he performs well these days, but will he be there in 2007, or even better, will he be there in 2004?
Pakistan is solely looking for a young squad which can gain experience so they can do well in 2007.
If that was not the main priority, I am rest assured that Wasim, Waqar would still be playing, they are still better Shabbir or Gul, but due to their age, they will definitly not be there in 2007, but Gul and Shabbir will be.
Its not always about winning matches, when you experiment by bringing youth to a team, there will be times, when you lose consistently, but also think about the loads of experince our youngsters will be gaining.
Saeed scored a magnificent century against India, but what guarentees you that he will continue, before the WC he didn't put up a decent performance, he was constantly injured due to his aging and personal problems.
You brought up a great point about Steve Waugh, but then again, look at the state of cricket his team is in. They are absolute best in the world today, they don't need to experiment, because most of their ace players still have many years to go.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by UMAIR316: *
Well said Jayz, but I disagree a little.
Saeed Anwar maybe stylish, great and match winner at times, but the matter of a fact is, he is past his best, even if he performs well these days, but will he be there in 2007, or even better, will he be there in 2004?
Pakistan is solely looking for a young squad which can gain experience so they can do well in 2007.
If that was not the main priority, I am rest assured that Wasim, Waqar would still be playing, they are still better Shabbir or Gul, but due to their age, they will definitly not be there in 2007, but Gul and Shabbir will be.
Its not always about winning matches, when you experiment by bringing youth to a team, there will be times, when you lose consistently, but also think about the loads of experince our youngsters will be gaining.
Saeed scored a magnificent century against India, but what guarentees you that he will continue, before the WC he didn't put up a decent performance, he was constantly injured due to his aging and personal problems.
You brought up a great point about Steve Waugh, but then again, look at the state of cricket his team is in. They are absolute best in the world today, they don't need to experiment, because most of their ace players still have many years to go.
[/QUOTE]

that's exactly what i meant. some people get so caught up in players glory day that they forget what they have achieved recently.

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Rana Jee welcome to the world of reality where everyone's opinion count. I dont know if you are related to Amir Shoial or if he has appointed you his "PR" person but the truth is his he was a mediocre batsman and a pathetich chairman of the seletion commitee. No where in the world does a captain gets instructions how to use his players while he made it clear when selecting Shoaib Malik that Shoaib is not to be played as an opener or at one down position. Though I agree with that but who the hell is Amir to tell the captain that. His job is to select the team not form a team combination.

Plus he issues stupid statements. Like the one about the selection of Imran Nazir being termed is "popular choice". What the hell does that mean. Should we now hold general elections in Pakistan and select the "popular choice" team. Trust me in that case Anwar will be back in the squad.

Although I do believe that Anwar's time is over. His fitness is very questionable and his running between the wickets and fileding leave a lot to be desired. But as far as popular opinion is concerned then Anwar will be back.

The most important thing is consistency and thats what Amir lacks. On the one hand he leaves people out of the squad because of their "bad performance" it doesnt matter how popular the player is and then he starts picking people up on the basis of popular opinion.

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I think what he meant by popular choice is the players being popular around the selection committee.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by LahoriMunda: *
Rana Jee welcome to the world of reality where everyone's opinion count. I dont know if you are related to Amir Shoial or if he has appointed you his "PR" person but the truth is his he was a mediocre batsman and a pathetich chairman of the seletion commitee. No where in the world does a captain gets instructions how to use his players while he made it clear when selecting Shoaib Malik that Shoaib is not to be played as an opener or at one down position. Though I agree with that but who the hell is Amir to tell the captain that. His job is to select the team not form a team combination.

Plus he issues stupid statements. Like the one about the selection of Imran Nazir being termed is "popular choice". What the hell does that mean. Should we now hold general elections in Pakistan and select the "popular choice" team. Trust me in that case Anwar will be back in the squad.

Although I do believe that Anwar's time is over. His fitness is very questionable and his running between the wickets and fileding leave a lot to be desired. But as far as popular opinion is concerned then Anwar will be back.

The most important thing is consistency and thats what Amir lacks. On the one hand he leaves people out of the squad because of their "bad performance" it doesnt matter how popular the player is and then he starts picking people up on the basis of popular opinion.
[/QUOTE]

Well said LH. Also he made statments such as "Afridi should forget playing for Pakistan for at least a year." Im not saying I disagre with that statement or that Afridi should be back, but Amir Sohail as the chief selector should be more careful with such statments. Instead of making such stupid comments, he should encourage the players and say if anyone plays well, doesnt matter if its Afridi or Nazir or whoever, will get selected to play for Pakistan.