A tell-tale sigh and a voice laced with sarcasm were the hallmarks of the sequence of interactions involving Pakistani all-rounder Iftikhar Ahmed and a member of the media recently. The 34-year-old cricketer has played the entire batting order with some regularity while participating in T20 internationals as well as ODIs; thus he called himself a “tailender”, telling all but of his irritation towards his changing mantle in the squad.
In the recent 66 T20I matches he has batted from 5th to 7th down the order.
There is no doubt he considers he has been miscast; “I am not a No. 4 or 5 batsman, I am a No. 7 or 8 batsman. I am not a batting all-rounder, I am a lower order stubborn batsman. I generally come in at No 7 or 8. Most of the all rounders and middle order batsmen are found playing in the most of the time at No 4 or 5. But I bat in dipping order at No. 7 and No. 8 which probably most tailenders prefer.”
His comments seem to reflect his disappointment over any kind who is placed within the batting order of Pakistan’s national team.
Over the past few months, Iftikhar has also looked for form hardships. The fans last saw him reach fifty in the forms that Pakistan took in August 2023 against Nepal in the whilst Asia cup commenced. He has had a reasonable number of international cricket matches range but has not kicked off as hoped specially while batting.
Iftikhar has taken a total of 998 runs in his T20 International career. Iftikhar has played 31 T20 International matches till date with a strike rate of 24.34 and a strike rate of 129.10 including four half tons. In ODIs, he has made 614 runs in 28 innings at an average if 38.37 and a strike rate of 106.59, with a century and a fifty in that time frame.
Holding the reputation of being a power-hitter along with having the ability to generate off-spin, Iftikar’s words indicate that he is not comfortable with the position that has been assigned to him at the present moment. His opinions show that he is not happy with the current batting order with respect to his placement in the order. He hints that he could be under-rested or educated wrongly in the overall picture.
Bringing Iftikhar in and out of the Iftikhar’s position in the Pakistan team management may have been done to use his skills effectively in as many situations of the match as possible. Iftikhar himself seems not pleased with this, expecting things in a future which he considers quite the opposite of how it turns out to be.
