THE IMRAN NAZIR STORY

Imran Nazir, and overcoming one bad dream

by Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi • Last updated on

After hitting his peak, Nazir was forced out of action because of arthritis. © Getty

It might have been just another gloriously sunny afternoon in South Africa's biggest city, but it was a special one for millions of people in the Asian subcontinent. Everything had come to standstill. The roads were empty and activity in public spaces was almost non-existent. Everyone was glued to their television sets in anticipation of their rival nation being abased in front of the world.

That's how it is when India and Pakistan face off. The 22 men that take the field are crushed under mammoth expectations. An exit from an ICC tournament is acceptable - no matter how early or humiliating. But not a loss against the neighbour. A victory leads to night-long jubilations; defeat to protests, possibly culminating in the burning of effigies. Such is the cricket madness.

It is 2007 and Johannesburg is host to one of the most riveting finals in cricket's relatively short tournament history. It is India and Pakistan in the final of the first ever World Twenty20. Ensuring that it remains a gripping contest, Imran Nazir spanks Sreesanth's first ball for a boundary through cover off his back foot. The next flies into the crowd over square-leg. The third, for a six over point. Another delivery in the over hits the fence, this time over extra cover. From being on the back foot after losing a wicket in the first over of their run chase, Pakistan, in the next six balls, are back in the contest.

"There's one match for every player that he cannot forget. It was that match for me," recalls Imran. "I don't think India and Pakistan had faced off in a final before. I had full confidence [of taking Pakistan to victory]."

Although some of the details momentarily elude Imran - he wonders whether he used a runner in the final, before remembering that he in fact needed one in the course of scoring fifty against New Zealand in the semi-final - the game remains one of the defining memories of his career.

A lot has changed since that contest. Eleven years is a long time in cricket. Twenty20 is taking over - some would say it already has - as the game's primary format. There now exists a niche for specialist T20 batsmen, one which Imran could easily have filled - but never did. After making erratic appearances for Pakistan for the next five years, he faded away from the scene because of arthritis. The bump in recollecting the memory is its byproduct.

Nazir hopes to return to competitive cricket even if playing for Pakistan is not possible. ©Getty

We meet on the 10th day of Imran's return to the nets at his club, Panthers and Tigers, in the Lahore City Cricket Association ground, located beside the iconic Gaddafi Stadium. It is four years since Imran left the game because of "the disease". He doesn't name it, after confirming what it was before the start of the interview. Maybe he doesn't want to remember. After all, it took a precious chunk of his career away from him.

"I've forgotten those days like one forgets a bad dream," he says. "I am back to playing cricket and it remains to be seen how far I can stretch myself. I've played a lot and every kind of cricket. As a professional, I am aware of what I have to do to regain my fitness and make a comeback. How much I need to train, how much I need to bat. I am improving, and the duration of my training is increasing day by day.

"With every week, I can see improvement. No doubt, the gap has been huge. Four and a half years are too much. Then the magnitude of my injury was also different. Many people are not aware that it leads to memory loss. But I am glad to say that I have recovered from it as well."

Recuperating from a point from where it once seemed impossible has ignited spirituality in Imran. He speaks at length about how his faith kept him optimistic. It offered the hope that carried him through the most daunting phase of his life.

"I want to thank the Almighty [for providing me health]. We can say that I am starting a new life. Prayers are very powerful. I want to thank everyone around the world who prayed for me, especially my family, my wife. I consider myself very lucky that I had heaps of prayers at my back as people wanted to see me in action again. Self-belief is very important in one's life and one should trust oneself. It was definitely a very difficult time for me, but I knew I will overcome it. Being a cricketer, I used to travel all the time. So when I went down, it disheartened me. But I never gave up."

In this day and age, the chances of making a return to top-flight cricket at 36 are slim. For Imran, they are thinned further due to a dearth of competitive cricket under his belt. In fact, he has none. But that doesn't worry him. "It is not important to only play international cricket. In my childhood, I only wanted to play cricket. It was not about playing for Pakistan," he remembers. Events of the past four years have clearly provided perspective.

"All of my joints, my shoulders, elbows, knees, feet they used to hurt a lot. There's a lot that I don't open up about. Honestly, I couldn't sleep for three or three and a half years. It was a very tough time. But as a sportsman, I had a lot of willpower and I swallowed all the pain. I used to pray to god that I don't become bedridden. I engaged myself in different things. I used to clean my house, go for walks, and play with my kids. That's how I spent my time. I knew if I stopped pushing myself, I would never recover. Probably an ordinary human would have given up.

"One should never lose hope in life. My episode is a message for every youngster and even every adult. No matter what life throws at you, if you are daring and motivated enough, you would overcome it. Same was the case with me. Since childhood, I regarded disappointment as a sin. Even when I was dropped from the team, I accepted it. I knew I will get what is in my fate."

Imran's friends advised him to take up coaching, but he wanted to give playing cricket one last shot. He has donned Pakistan colours in 112 internationals and participated in T20 leagues when they were still relatively new. The insatiable hunger brings him to nets despite the fact that he isn't fully there yet physically. This is underscored after the session when he opts against going to gym because he is still recovering from an illness last night.

Teenagers begin to perch around the nets as Imran walks in. Before he arrived, both nets were operational. But now all of the focus is on the one in which the right-handed batsman is adjusting his guard.

His trademark back foot cut and punch are still there. Watching him play those strokes makes one feel he never left the scene. Perhaps the ordinary bowling standard plays a role in the perception. These are mere club bowlers and with every delivery, Imran is motivating them to challenge his skills.

The younger ones are frightened by his scorching horizontal-bat shots. He tells them he won't hit them down the wicket so they should continue to pitch the ball up. Those bowling wides get rebuked. But the next instance he winks and passes a grin as he enjoys the authority granted to him for being the most senior player in the vicinity.

There's determination to begin from where he left off. It can be gauged by how firmly he taps his bat on the cement pitch. He concentrates on every bowler running in and keeps his eye on the ball until it meets his bat.

Since he has entered the ground, the fans have been approaching him to ask for selfies. He obliges to all of them. One younger fan wearing a Pakistan jersey is too shy to ask him for a picture. Upon noticing this reluctance, Imran tells him to pose for one with him. Imran may have vanished from the scene but his popularity never nosedived. Before the player draft for the third edition of the Pakistan Super League last year, a rumour went around on social media that he had been signed by new franchise Multan Sultans. The rumour became so strong that the franchise found it apt to play Imran in their promotional match in Multan.

While it's been a tough journey so far, Nazir is grateful for the support he's got. ©Getty

In the course of his interactions, before and after the net session, he tells everyone he "will be back". The conviction in his tone makes it feel like a promise - a promise to hundreds and thousands of fans who have longed to see him back in action.

During his time in the wilderness fans often asked about Imran, wondering how different things might have been if he were playing. Pakistan have struggled in one-day cricket for the better part of the decade because of their batsmen's inability to catch up with the changing trends. In a day and age of T20 cricket, when scoring at least a run-a-ball has become a necessity, Pakistan's paucity of free-scoring batsmen has hindered them. With the addition of Fakhar Zaman and Asif Ali, things look to be on the right track. But it is worth imagining what an opening combination of Fakhar and Imran might have been capable of.

It was not only Imran's batting that made him such a prodigy. His acrobatic fielding turned him into a vital cog in the Pakistani set up when the country's fielding standards were well below satisfactory. In hindsight, it feels as though he was ahead of his time, which is probably what still makes him popular amongst the Pakistani fans. "I used to work hard [which kept me ahead of the time]," he says of his early days in cricket.

"I belong to a small town of Muridke. While living there, I did not even know whether I will play for Pakistan or not. Then I discovered domestic cricket and I clicked there. The next thing I know I was playing for Pakistan. It happened because I performed. I don't consider myself to be a very good cricketer. But, I left a mark. Whenever someone does something different, he is acknowledged and remembered. I used to take responsibility for winning every game for my country. Perhaps that's what people liked: that this is a man who is not bound by anything. He is brave and takes his chances."

Things have changed drastically since he last played for Pakistan. Now there is a lot of emphasis on fitness. Such is the obsession with meeting the set standards that even the seniors failing to meet the benchmarks are sidelined. So having said that there is life in cricket beyond the international realm, has Imran ruled out playing for Pakistan altogether?

"I never lose hope," he says. "You can say that it is my aim to play for Pakistan again. But it depends on my training and whether I am qualified for it. If I am, then definitely I will play again. If not, then there is a lot of [T20] cricket. Now there's a new tournament every week.

"When I began my journey, I wanted to do something. And now in my second life, the aim is the same. I want to do something which will make the world happy."

Imran still carries the hairstyle he had during the 2007 World T20 final. It separates down the centre and carries a wet look. The toned muscles on his biceps and shoulders give him a frame of an athlete. But there's a small belly bulge, which one cannot ignore when drawing a parallel between Imran of today and the Imran of yesteryears. Yet his resolve to reach the upper echelons of cricket is more prominent. That determination to boss bowlers is still there, like it was when he was facing Sreesanth in that second over.

© Cricbuzz

TAGS