November 28, 2004. India hosting Proteas at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens. A bearded 21 yr old gent with a strange first and surname by the visitor’s standards took the South African cap. One could surely be deceived that he was playing for the wrong team. After all, Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan were opening the bowling for the hosts. At 3/130 on  day 1 , he went in as the No 5,scored 24 in just under an hour and ended up being bowled by Irfan himself.He went on to bag just a couple more in the 2nd innings. His name was a surprise to all but it raised intrigue. A forgettable English series at home followed where he scored a meagre 36 in 4 innings. It looked as if he wouldn’t be heard of again, as he disappeared.The hopes of many were dashed. But he came back and rose. His name-Hashim Mahomed Amla.

In 2006, he marked his comeback with a match saving 149 vs New Zealand in the test scene after improving his technique.In 2008, he went back to India scoring 159 in Chennai, but his next tour in 2010 would be even more defining. On the back of a 253 at Nagpur in the first test,he entered Kolkata again. Enter the same Eden Gardens, where he made his debut.He went on to score 114 and 123 not out in the repeat encounter. He never looked back. A  star was born. But a very different one.  The South african selectors never looked away either. To this day he still averages 51 plus in both tests and Odi ‘s.The world asked his name. He would humbly say  “Hashim”.

His career blossomed in the background whilst  worldly controversies prospered and new  leagues and a format ignited glamour and glitz. He just carried on doing what he did best, kept his head down and played technically sound. His cricketing achievements are for all to see and reflect. If the 253 in Nagpur was an eye opener, the 311 scored at Oval was the first by a South African,in 2012 thrilled even more. Later that year his 196 at Perth was unsurprising as well en route a Protean test series victory on Aussie shores.He scored against all oppositions, on every earthly surface from the bone hard  tracks of the Gulf to the low slow Sri Lankan surfaces with equal ferocity. Maybe he should play on the moon . This with the fact he fasts on occasions on match days which are played in mostly hot and humid conditions begs to question one about this human endeavour. The application is all in the mind. Its his mental aptitude which has grown alongside his technique which allowed him to play long and solidly.

He recently finished the series against England as the highest scorer in the test series. This was after he relinquished the captaincy in favour of improving his batting though he did manage a double century in his last match as the skipper in Cape Town. It was sad to see him give up the captaincy but in light of the recent Indian series where his form  suffered greatly.  The  visitor’s long overseas unbeaten streak had ended .After  a 3-0 series defeat in the subcontinent , they  lagged behind in the home series versus England. The Proteas required many more of his calibre to put up a challenge. Nevertheless he carried Proteas in the final test vs Poms with a 109 to set up  a consolation win in Centurion Park.

Few people in the world of sports stand out both on and off the field. I say that because often in the increasing world of social media and technology, word gets out soon when there are issues pertaining to physical ,mental and social health off the field that affect an athlete’s  performance. The ever rising stressors that come with fame and attention have been a common struggle in all fields and cricket is not alien to it. It seemed Hashim had a mental balance to counteract all this and still be a part of the cricketing culture.He also had a good grounding from an early age in which played a variety of sports and worked hard at cricket. He led from an early age captaining the under 19 South African team to the world cup final in New zealand in 2002 .

What is it about Hashim that the world respects him too much ? Is he a symbol ? Is it the beard ? Is it the identity he carries ? Is it the fasting during play ? It might be all of this. To quote Mark Nicholas the revered cricket commentator of Channel 5 here in UK who recently wrote about him ,” He stands for an ideal. He speaks for the marginalised. He is hope. He is strength. He is faith. His elevation made all things possible.”

Its the fact he carries and conducts himself how an ideal human would  on and off the field. Sometimes it seems unreal in this world. Most of the times, its a relief to see him standing in that oval field. For once , cricket delivered the ” Righteous”one.  The same cricket which   has had  its  fair share of corruption, controversy , apartheid and racism.Sanity had prevailed after a long time.

In a  generation of T20 leagues  full of auctioning and branding  players as Icons, it s important to focus and reflect on  who the real icons of cricket are today. Who is l

egendary ,iconic , eminent  and venerated ? The list will be finite . If truly there is a name that comes to mind amongst the top, there can be no doubt it will be of – Hashim Mahomed Amla.

In October 2010, Pakistan’s cricketing fortunes plunged deep into darkness that can be only summed as the sporting version of a Black Hole. They had suffered a heavy 3-1 test series defeat on the field in England and off it had three players         ( Mohammad Aamir , Salman Butt , Mohammad Asif ) being banned for spot fixing charges. This on top of the fact they were forced to play cricket away from home following the Lahore debacle of 2009 with Sri Lankan team.It was not a good time to be a fan of the Cornered Tigers.

As the obvious change in the captaincy occurred, came a player who had not always been held in high regard in Pakistan’s cricketing circles . Misbah ul Haq Khan Niazi was infamous because of his 2007 World Cup T20 final at Johannesburg against India where he had played a scoop shot that had clinched defeat from a possible chance of a win. This was on his return to mainstream cricket after 4 years . On his second return in 2010, at 37, he was made in charge of a side who might have lost its bowling punchline a few months before the  2011 World Cup. They faced a formidable South African test squad and managed to hold them to two dull draws.

As he progressed in his captaincy, he became renowned for his slow batting after the fall of early wickets typical of a Pakistan top order performance. The famous 2011 World Cup semifinal at Mohali was another dark spot in his CV, with the loss again primarily blamed at his rate of run making. However he continued to take on the barrage of criticism, an offshoot of which was a nickname called Tuk Tuk . It meant slow tapping of the ball without any run accumulation. Despite that ,he managed a successful streak in tests . This culminated in a famous whitewash of 2012 in the Gulf against the Poms 3-0 which began to strengthen his cause. He went on to in lead to an Asia cup win the same year and later on to a victorious Indian ODI  tour.Things were looking a bit brighter for Tuk Tuk.

Although he lost 3-0 in South Africa , the return leg in the fall was drawn in the Gulf 1-1.12 months later he led a famous 2-0 drubbing of the Aussies . This was Pakistan s first test win since 1995 and eventually a series since 1988 against the Kangaroos . Misbah in the 2nd innings of the Abu Dhabi went into AB Devilliers mode  and clubbed the fastest test 100 in 56 balls, a record he tied with the legendary  Vivian Richards. This followed a first innings of 101. Misbah had tied the legendary skippers Imran Khan and Javed Miandad at 14 test wins. He went on to break that record on the same ground versus Kiwis following a third straight 100.

2015 might have signalled the end of his ODI career during the World Cup but his test wins continued. The Greenshirts won in Bangladesh at Mirpur where he hit 82. A few months later, they won a series against Sri Lanka at Pallekele , a 1st for 9 years. The winning runs were achieved in his stand with Younus Khan in a monumental run chase scoring 382.  As one of the most closest series played this year against England concluded with a 2-0 win at the historic Sharjah stadium which has been a site for their previous one day successes, Pakistan rose to No 2 in the rankings. He again had a match winning 102 at Dubai and innings saving 71 in the 1st inning of the final test at Sharjah .

There was talk of retirement looming as the series against England began but now the PCB and most of his cricket fans possibly think otherwise considering the difficult tour of the UK expected next year to be anything but a walk in the park. It was a tightly contested series despite the end results with spin dominating. Misbah ended with 352 runs in the  series behind only to Mohammad Hafeez and the England skipper Alistair Cook.

Forgiveness is hard to achieve in Pakistani cricketing folklore. Although played only 61 tests, he has taken a long and weary journey at the age of 41 to convince many that he can be remembered that what he did In the past didn’t reply reflect the player he is. It might be boring at times and he might not attract the best of crowds considering the kind of young stroke players around and in an era of T20 cricket , but he does play solidly and puts an enormous price to his wicket. And in a series which commended Younus Khan for becoming his team’s highest test runs scorer ever, Misbah now can rule the roost at 20 test captain wins, a record that will stay for some time.

As a well groomed and a learned individual from Mianwali, he had an arduous task cleaning up that mess of 2010. His calmness and control prevailed. In five years and 42 tests at the helm, he finally managed to change the outlook of Pakistan cricket at test level, something many struggled to do before him.Maybe his future following cricket might be more forgiving than the path he took towards achieving this success.

26th September, 2009. Venue is Centurion Park. It’s a classic encounter in the ICC champions trophy between Pakistan and India. Pakistan’s  batting early were  reduced to  65 for 3, and on the crease were  two batsmen who weren’t  seeing an eye to an eye with each other. Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik’s careers were at crossroads at either sides  of a captaincy issue that will haunt them in various ways in the months to come.

Malik is already a deposed captain by 27 having led Pakistan to a final in the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup  against India only two years ago . He was also on the crease  when Pakistan knocked  the winning runs in the 2009 final at Lords, though much lesser of a hero than Shahid was. Yousuf on the other hand had been in and out due to  an ICL fiasco and then not being backed for the in fashion T20 format  something he blamed Shoaib for .

I didn’t want Malik to perform well this day as his legacy was much tainted post removal . Like many Pakistani captains who were removed , he was criticised forming his own league  within the team and wasn’t happy playing under Younus who was the T20 champion  skipper in the aftermath of a pretty impulsive removal. As  I fought against my own self , the band of  critics  and myself were  proven wrong .  He played an innings of calibre and as the runs piled , there was just no way one could have gone against him . Like he did  with his career later  , he somehow finds a way to come back .

Despite their cold  feud, Yousuf played his part in a solid run a ball stand that accounted for 206 runs which ends up with Malik playing one of the most memorable and match winning innings in his career, a 128.They were unstoppable that evening ,in a  typical warrior like mode. This was though a blip still , in how proceedings ended up in a phased loss of form for the Sialkot lad since that South African spring.

Many fans including  myself have always endured  a love hate relationship with  Malik over the years . The  career that seemed to blossom like a teenage sensation would typically in late 90 ‘s era for Pakistani cricketers . He started off in a Saqlain like off spin style. Being an agile fielder was a  bonus but  the the big plus was his explosive lower order batting . And bat he did. It wasn’t until April 2002 when he started actually opening the batting that he launched himself batting wise fully and  worked his way into test batting ranks as well.

It was a hot April afternoon and I remember being in Lahore , my friend was wanting to go watch live that game at  Gaddafi. He scored a 115 against the Black Caps on his ground debut which started a streak . It was a happy all round debut in which he got 3 wickets  as well. His Gaddafi luck never fizzled  . He would go on to score 3 100s and 8 fifties breaking the stadium record earlier this year in the series against Zimbabwe and in the process crossing 1,000 ground runs .

It always felt when Malik ascended to captaincy in 2007  as one of the younger graduates, there would be a longer tenure given. Instead  within a brief spell  of under 2 years , he was left out in the cold over a massive  Sri Lankan one day defeat ironically at Gaddafi as well. That series was the last played on Pakistani home soil. His cricketing accolades started to wane then .

In the test  series that followed ,he was part of  the infamous  Lahore  test in March 2009 against the Lankans , under Younus Khan s captaincy. The hosting  of International   cricket ended.  A future outside Pakistani turfs looked bleak. Malik’  s post Centurion Park  one day  achievements were thin  but did  include  a high profile marriage to Sania Mirza which didn’t add to his four hundreds against India though once again matches  were  few and far between. He was diminished slowly into the doldrums of domestic  T20 cricket where he has always maintained a prolific run , leading  Sialkot to numerous wins . He tried many comebacks internationally as a  result  but with limited success. I thought I had seen him off.

Following a World Cup that concluded Misbah and Shahid ‘s careers and and embarrassing whitewash in Bangladesh , the batting line looked thin. the May 2015 home series had an aura of its own .The whole Zimbabwean  team is welcomed like superstars . The crowd propels the series into an event worth witnessing. The atmosphere was electric for all the five games hosted . I longed again to witness the Gaddafi but far way on English shores enjoyed my  family in Lahore witnessing the exhilarating atmosphere even in high burning  temperatures  . It was a  congregation the hosts and millions around the globe  really wanted , a series well received . Into the fray  comes a deposed member of the squad after two years into the one day squad who according to many had been given chance after chance and failed. So it is,  a veteran Shoaib pads up.

This time though , at one of his favoured tracks , he didn’t disappoint .Though he belted a  76 ball 112   and brought the roof down , it  wasn’t the same . 12 years earlier , he inflicted a Protean trauma  on the same pitch when he hammered  82 off 41 in a game changing lower order innings. Now that was one of his best rated Gaddafi innings to date . It tells you a thing or two about the strange cynicism that is always associated with Pakistani cricket .

Batting wise , the  technique might make the English and Aussies laugh all day . The dropped catches  will make South Africans and  Kiwis  giggle to no end . The inability to bat might make Indians dance all day in the field  . Sri Lankans will  also mimic  for lack of  consistency but one thing remains , the talent is exceptional . The more you stop the more it comes bouncing back and hits  right in the head . Wahab ,Azhar ,Haris , Sarfraz and Yasir are living proofs of these. The tap never runs dry.

And then there is Shoaib Malik, who now owns  2015 with a exact 100 average in Odis. Is it a change of  technique? Unlikely at 33. Is it the fact he is playing on dead wickets ?  But then the Sri Lankan wickets were no feather beds either . Is it CBT or psychotherapy as Pakistan now has a full time sports psychologist Dr .Maqsood Babri who has made his impact felt in recent time. Maybe.  Not surprisingly , Shoaib credits his success  to his wife . Ironically,   Sania herself has been finding  success on her sides  with grand slam doubles titles at Wimbledon and U.S. Open , pairing with Martina Hingis. I hope the party has just begun, with or without dubsmash.

Malik’ s success lands him a test spot which is a bit of a surprise although sterner tests still await with a T20 World Cup year next March and a long English summer of 2016 which usually is one of the most difficult ” off the field ”  series that the Greenshirts  encounter.  For now , I am a silent observer abstaining from  any more weight thrown against his mammoth  numbers , my inner self though urging him on just like I did at Centurion all  those years back. I  just have to say what the whole of  Pakistan said to our African guests  in May , ” Jee Ayaan Noo ” ( welcome greeting in Punjabi )