Aamer Sohail

Aamer Sohail Biography

Full name Mohammad Aamer Sohail Ali

Born September 14, 1966, Lahore, Punjab

Current age 45 years 80 days

Major teams Pakistan, Allied Bank, Habib Bank Limited, Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Somerset

Batting style Left-hand bat

Bowling style Slow left-arm orthodox

Other Commentator

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	47	83	3	2823	205	35.28	5103	55.32	5	13	383	8	36	0
ODIs	156	155	5	4780	134	31.86	7297	65.50	5	31			49	0
First-class	195	331	17	12213	205	38.89			29	50			153	0
List A	261	256	10	7852	134	31.91			9	50			92	0

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	47	46	2383	1049	25	4/54	4/44	41.96	2.64	95.3	1	0	0
ODIs	156	125	4836	3703	85	4/22	4/22	43.56	4.59	56.8	1	0	0
First-class	195		12063	5983	157	7/53		38.10	2.97	76.8		2	1
List A	261		7840	5969	179	4/11	4/11	33.34	4.56	43.7	7	0	0

Career statistics

Test debut	England v Pakistan at Birmingham, Jun 4-8, 1992
Last Test	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Peshawar, Mar 5-9, 2000

ODI debut	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Sharjah, Dec 21, 1990
Last ODI	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Lahore, Feb 19, 2000

First-class span	1983-2001
List A span	1983-2000

Profile

A combative left-hand opener, Aamer Sohail was a predominantly back-foot player whose forte was improvisation. He loved to attack, and almost found it impossible to control his aggression. He showed no fear, epitomised by his baiting of Venkatesh Prasad in a 1996 World Cup quarter-final in front of a hostile Bangalore crowd. He was an effective left-arm spinner, more a one-day bowler than a Test wicket-taker. Aamir played a big part in Pakistan's World Cup triumph in 1992, and famously told Ian Botham that he might want to send his mother-in-law in to bat after Botham was controversially given out for 0 in the final. He captained Pakistan at the height of the match-fixing controversy, and was one of the whistle-blowers. His career suffered as a result, and he left the international scene early to work in broadcasting, where he might have tried harder to suppress his personal prejudices.

Aamir Sohail

Misbah Ul-Haq

Misbah Ul-Haq Biography

Full name Misbah-ul-Haq Khan Niazi

Born May 28, 1974, Mianwali, Punjab

Major teams Pakistan, Khan Research Labs, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sargodha

Playing role Middle-order batsman

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Legbreak

An orthodox batsman with reasonable technique, Misbah-ul-Haq caught the eye with his unflappable temperament in the tri-nation one-day tournament in Nairobi in 2002, scoring two fifties in three innings, including one in the final against Australia. But before Pakistan could hail him as a possible middle-order mainstay, Misbah's form slumped - he didn't manage a single 20-plus score in three Tests against Australia and was duly dumped. Pakistan's abysmal World Cup campaign - and the wholesale changes to the team in its aftermath - gave Misbah another chance to redeem himself, but he did little of note in the limited opportunities he got.

Even though Misbah had not represented Pakistan for about three years, a run-filled domestic season, followed by club cricket in England, and Inzamam's retirement from ODIs prompted the board to award Misbah a central contract in July 2007. A month later, he was surprisingly picked, ahead of Mohammad Yousuf, for the 15-man squad for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa. He repaid the selectors' faith by finishing the tournament as Pakistan's best player and nearly taking them to victory in the final. He was duly named in the team for the Test and ODI series that followed against South Africa.

After an unremarkable series against South Africa, Misbah was by far Pakistan's best batsman through the Tests against India, amassing 464 runs in three matches, including two centuries. He was ice-cool in crisis, rescuing Pakistan on several occasions with spirited rearguard efforts. His remarkable rise continued as a mere six months after being picked for the ICC World Twenty20, he was made vice-captain and handed a top-category contract in January 2008. His form deserted him again in 2009, and he dropped from all three squads for the series against New Zealand - but made yet another return to the side in October 2010, this time as captain for the Tests against South Africa .

Misbah Ul-Haq

Saqlain Mushtaq

Saqlain Mushtaq Biography
A trend-setter. Saqlain Mushtaq was perhaps the first offspinner to master the doosra, a delivery that spins away from the batsman even though it is delivered with an offspinner's action. Saqlain has a fast, short-stepping action with a halting delivery, and has a propensity to bowl no-balls, unusually for a bowler with such a short run. He is criticised for attempting too much variation and he often throws in the doosra the first time a batsman faces. Saqlain's international career got off to a splendid start - he was the fastest bowler to 100 one-day wickets, and his phenomenal control meant that he regularly bowled at the death. But his finest moment arguably came in a Test match, at Chennai in 1998-99, when his ten-for allowed Pakistan to sneak nerve-tingling 12-run win against India. However, his stock has fallen a long way since then, with Shoaib Malik, a better batsman than Saqlain, usurping the spinner's spot in the ODI line-up and Danish Kaneria becoming the frontline Test spinner. Saqlain did get an opportunity to have a go at the Indians again in the 2003-04 series, but unflattering figures of 1 for 204 at Multan meant that he was quickly consigned to the scrap heap. He was unable to force his way back ahead of Danish Kaneria and he was blighted by injury after a prolific time with Surrey. However, his career was given a lifeline in 2007 when he joined Mushtaq Ahmed at Sussex and there was even talk of him qualifying for England. That could remain a distant dream, after signing a contract with the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League. Indeed, his ICL contract forced Surrey to severe ties with him after the 2008 season, ending his 11-year relationship with The Oval.

Saqlain Mushtaq

Danish Kaneria

Danish Kaneria Biography

Danish Parabha Shanker Kaneria (born December 16, 1980, Karachi), popularly known as Danish Kaneria is a Pakistani cricketer (leg spin bowler). He was born in Karachi. He made his international debut in 2000 against England at Faisalabad.

He has taken over 100 test wickets and over 300 first class wickets. In January 2002, he took 7 wickets for 77 runs in the test match against Bangladesh in Bangladesh which are his career best figures so far in test cricket. Earlier, in the same season, he had taken 6 wickets in an innings twice runs against Bangladesh during Bangladesh’s tour of Pakistan. More recently, in October 2004, he took 10 wickets against Sri Lanka at Karachi, with a second-innings haul of 7/109, setting up Pakistan’s 6-wicket win.

Besides Bangladeshi batsmen, he has also dismissed several great batsmen in test matches such as Stephen Fleming, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Adam Gilchrist among others.

In ODI cricket, he has been economical so far with an economy rate under 4.5 runs per over. His best bowling in ODIs came against New Zealand in Sri Lanka in 2003. He also had a good series against Zimbabwe in Sharjah just before that. He is a classically incompetent batsman, as a test average of 5 will indicate.

Despite representing the Muslim-majority state of Pakistan, Kaneria is a devout Hindu.