When Gavaskar helped Inzamam
The story goes that Inzamam-ul-Haq was plagued with self-doubt about playing in England after the 1992 World Cup. in England and I went through a bad part”, said Inzamam. Fortunately for him, he clashed with Sunil Gavaskar in a charity match in the middle of the series.
“Great players have a simple solution to big problems. Gavaskar said just do one thing. Don’t even think about it. In nets, don’t prepare for it. Just play normally. Don’t think the liar is coming. Just put it out of your mind. Bat normally, you can easily handle it. It was difficult to apply the mental technique he had given, but I tried it on the nets. He solved my problem in a few seconds as he asked me to go to the nets and concentrate in such a way that I don’t think about facing short balls,” Inzamam said on his YouTube channel. “After that, I never faced a problem again against the short ball.”
Bedi advised Kasim how to flourish in a spinner
Now we go back to 1987, coincidentally Gavaskar’s last Test match, where he hit 96, arguably the best knock in a furious innings in the history of the game.
Maninder Singh had taken 7 for 27 in the first innings, resulting in Pakistan being bowled out for 116. Pakistan’s left-arm spinner Iqbal Qasim and offie Tauseef Ahmed shared 10 wickets as India were bowled out for 145 all out. in their first. The game began to turn as Pakistan reached 249 in the second over, with Maninder picking just three wickets for 99 runs. Chasing 221, India had reached 99 for 4 with Gavaskar unbeaten on 51 and Mohammad Azharuddin on 7 when the day’s rest intervened. Pakistan had employed only three bowlers: two spinners and Wasim Akram.
@make_asif Iqbal Qasimi is an excellent Crktr sir whom I have always admired…!!!
— Bishan Bedi (@BishanBedi) June 18, 2015
On the day off, there was a function where the two teams met and Bishen Singh Bedi, the former India captain and the great left-arm spinner, spoke about how he was disappointed with his defender Maninder who tried hard in that revolving gate. Kasim and Tausef’s ears perked up and when they had a private moment with Bedi, they learned the way forward. Don’t try to spin the ball too much. Let the field do the trick.
Only Gavaskar held on as the two Pakistani spinners, fueled by Bedi’s advice, ran with the rest. Years later, Qasim would talk about how his captain Imran Khan would stare at him on the field, frustrated by the lack of wickets and Gavaskar’s challenge, and how Qasim, who now knew the trick as embraced by Bedi, he was no longer an angry man. . He would tell Imran to be patient, his approach would reap dividends and it did.
When Zaheer Abbas helped Azharuddin become an aggressive batsman
Now, let’s fast forward two years to 1989 and zoom in on a moment when Mohammad Azharuddin was dropped from the Lahore Test and worried about his future.
Enter Zahir Abbas. Azhar spots him at the national stadium in Karachi and approaches him for help. Zaheer would later recall, “I told him that yaar is taraf toh na poncho, koi dekhlega! (Don’t ask like that, someone will see1). Jokes aside, Zaheer jumped into solving the problem. He asked Azhar to change his bat.
Azhar explained what happened. “I remember Zaheer Bhai coming to the ground to watch us practice. He asked me why I was leaving early. I told him my problems and he suggested I change the control a bit. The moment I changed my control I felt more comfortable and confident and started to play freely. Ultimately, it also helped me become a more aggressive batsman.”
Azhar’s old grip was forcing his hands to close and hampering the flow of the bat. Azhar changed it, initially struggled as the bottom glove came off his glove, but went on and turned his career around. “At first I found it painful as my thumb hurt and my right hand was coming out of the glove. It took time, but I was open to suggestions and it worked for me.”
Azhar’s turn to help Younis Khan
Now at the time Azhar helped Younis Khan who was in the midst of poor form. 2016, England and Azhar was watching Younis fight on TV. One evening, he made a phone call to the Pakistani. Yunis was surprised to hear Azhar’s voice.
“He looked awful in his batting and I felt bad that such a good batsman should play so badly. I knew him, so I called him and advised him to stay in the crease and try to play close to the body from inside the crease,” Azhar said on Ary TV. “I’m happy he took my advice and went on to score a double century in the final Test at the Oval.”
Younis Khan, Pakistan’s leading run-scorer in Test cricket, identified Rahul Dravid’s early influence on his red-ball career 🏏
The pair scored a total of 23,387 runs in the longest format of the game 🙌#ICCHallOfFame pic.twitter.com/I2QzqhF381
— ICC (@ICC) July 10, 2020
Junis had once sought help from Rahul Dravid as well during the 2004 Championship Trophy in England. Dravid arrived at Younis’ room who was stunned. They had a long discussion and Younis says his game changed forever after that.
When Wasim Akram taught Irfan Pathan some tricks
In the same year of 2004, in Australia, Irfan Pathan would brainwash Wasim Akram to help his bowling. At the hotel breakfast table, he bumped into Akram, in Australia to comment and asked for help. Akram had headed to the ground, along with Ashish Nehra, who had also sought his help, and when Irfan asked if he too could accompany him, a smiling Akram said, “Of course you can.”
Apart from swing bowling tips (specifically swing bowling as insurance came naturally with Irfan’s action), Irfan would tell Sportstar how Akram “guided me on how to keep a proper line and length. He also advised how to intimidate a batsman in pressure situations”.
A Story of Grace: From Mohinder Amarnath to Javed Miandad
Let’s end with a story not of helping cricket, but a timely reminder of grace. There was no need for Javed Miandad to share this story, but he did in his autobiography Cutting Edge.
Apparently, in the midst of a tough game in a Test in Jaipur during the 1987 series, a match witnessed by Pakistani dictator Zia-ul-Haq, too, emotions got the better of Miandad. Frustrated by the umpire after another appeal was turned down when Mohinder was batting, Miandad made an insulting remark to describe India.
“I used an expression to describe India and Mohinder heard it. Calmly, he approached me and said, ‘Look Javed, call me whatever you want, but don’t say a word against my country.’ This touched me deeply. I have always considered my country above everything but Allah. I was ashamed that I had not respected Mohinder’s right to feel the same way about his country. I immediately apologized.”
