Saeed Anwar

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:NPOV Template:Cleanup-date Template:Infobox Cricketer

Saeed Anwar (b. September 6 1968) is a former Pakistani cricketer. He is most famous for scoring 194 runs against India in Chennai, the highest in any one day international. He was an opener for Pakistan and generally opened with Aamer Sohail.

Career

A top-order batsman capable of demolishing any bowling attack. He is generally ferocious as an opening batsman in the one day matches and once settled in the Test matches, will score quickly and all over the field. He was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997.

The next year his form continued and he finished the year just 40 runs behind Sachin Tendulkar. He was the first Pakistani Batsman to score a century against India on Indian soil in a One-day match. His timing and wristy play made him one of the best batsman the world has ever seen. He holds the highest test batting average (59.06) of any Pakistani against Australia in Test matches and scored three consecutive centuries aginst them. Who can forget his classic century against South Africa in Durban which allowed Pakistan to win a Test match for the first time in South Africa. He also remains in the exclusive club of the batsmen who have scored three successive hundreds in ODI. He did that by scoring against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in 1994-95 season in Sharjah. He scored 2 successive hundreds 3 other times during his career being the only one to do so in international cricket.

Image:Saeed Anwar graph.png

Fall of form

At one point in his career, Anwar was battling with Sachin Tendulkar for the number one ranking in world cricket. He even had the same number of centuries as Tendulkar: 17. But after that he went out of form, scoring only 3 more centuries, whereas Tendulkar scored a whopping 22 more. His going out of form was caused partly because Anwar suffered a great personal tragedy in 2001, when his infant daughter died after which Anwar became a puritan adherent. He made his return to cricket after a hiatus, but after lack-lustre performances in the 2003 World Cup, Anwar retired citing unjust criticism and pressures. He also scored a century against India in the 2003 World Cup.

Though Anwar was a great batsman in the beginning, his form became too variable to be threatening. But on his day he was one of the most gracefully compelling players on the international stage.

Template:Pakistani batsmen with a Test batting average above 40