Taufiq Umer : Saeed Bhai is my Idol

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Centurion Taufeeq inspired by former great Saeed Anwar

LAHORE: Pakistan opener Taufeeq Umar, who hit a century against South Africa on Saturday, said he took his inspiration from former captain and great opening batsman Saeed Anwar. “Saeed has always been a big inspiration for me. I started my Pakistan career with him and he helped me a lot. I have modelled myself on him as he was one of the best openers produced by Pakistan,” Taufeeq said after his knock of 111 on the second day of the first Test.

Anwar announced his retirement from all cricket in August, disheartened at being ignored by Pakistan’s selectors after the World Cup earlier this year. The veteran of 55 tests and 247 one-dayers still holds the record for the highest individual score in ODIs, 194 against India in 1997.

“When I started out for Pakistan two years back, Saeed encouraged me a lot, telling me I had the ability to make this spot my own. I respect him a lot for that. He had no airs,” added Taufeeq.

The 22-year-old scored his fourth Test hundred and second successive one against South Africa on Saturday to help Pakistan reach 275 for four in reply to the tourists’s first innings total of 320. He has now scored 391 runs in five innings against South Africa at an average of 78. “The pitch is good for batting and I didn’t face any problems throughout the day. I was disappointed to get out the way I did because I had willed myself to play out the day,” Taufeeq said.

The left-hander said he was confident of confirming a spot in the Pakistan team as opener. “I now have the confidence and have worked out my weak links to be able to stay around for long.”

Jang.com.pk

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Just shows what a class player and person Saeed Bhai is. He always helped the youngsters along…eg Shahid Afridi, Salim Elahi, Younis Khan, Imran Farhat, and add Taufiq Umer to that list…which probably includes a lot of other people as well.

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:k: I hope he solves our Test Opening problem, but I doubt his ability to be a good opener for ODI’s, as the same problem will arise of being too slow.

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He has definitely worked on fixing his technique from the days of WC 2003. He seems comfortable on both sides of the wicket and footwork is a lot more fluent.

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Looks like he's adjusted to SA bowling. He playes them easily. He's hit 2 hundreds and 1 fifty against them. Keep it up

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i think imran farhat could be a great ODI opener… his explosive style is much better suited to the one day game…

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Taufiq showed excellent temperament, concentration and there were no signs of nervousness :k:

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His main weakness was playing square of the wicket on the offside, and judging from his shots yestterday, seems as if he is wroking hard on that part of his game and there is a definite improvement as evident yesterday. :k:

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Saeed must be very proud of Taufeeq. He’s so young, and already in the record books with the century stands with imran. :k: