The Pakistan opening batter Imam Ul Haq, while being on a private TV show, has selected his all-time favorite Pakistan eleven in One-day international cricket, which has found the former captain and one of the best all-rounders of the format, Shahid Afridi has the 12th man in the side.
Along with naming several legendary players of the past ere, Imam Ul Haq has gone with Babar Azam, his captain for a long time across all three formats, in the opening position.
‘Since it was very difficult for me to set (him) in the middle order. So, I went for Babar Azam as the opener.’ Imam Ul Haq noted in the show while choosing the 11 players. ‘The way he has performed in ODI cricket for the last seven years so his performances for Pakistan are very good.’
Iman Khan captains Imam Ul Haq’s All-time Pakistan ODI XI
In the opening spot of the playing eleven, one of the legends of Pakistan cricket- Saeed Anwar has found a place. The left-handed opening batter ended his career in the 50-over format, with 8824 runs in 244 innings, at an average of around 40 and a strike rate of close to 81, with 20 centuries and 43 half-centuries with a best score of 194.
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Anwar will open with the current Pakistan captain Babar Azam, in Imam Ul Haq’s ODI XI of the ‘Men in Green’ side. Azam has managed to nail 5729 runs in 114 innings, at an average of 56.72 and a strike rate of around 90, with 19 hundred and 32 fifties, with a best score of 158.
The middle order of the side features the legendary batter Javed Miandad, Inzamam Ul Haq, and Mohammad Yousuf in the side.
When it comes to the stats of Miandad in this format of the game, he collected 7381 runs in 218 innings, at an average of around 42, and a strike rate of 68, which was again an excellent number in that era, with 50 fifties and eight centuries, with the best score of unbeaten 119-run knock.
Inzamam Ul Haq, whose nephew is Imam Ul Haq, has blasted11739 ODI runs in 350 innings, at an average of close to 40, with a strike rate of nearly 75, with 83 half-centuries and 10 centuries, with the best score of unbeaten 137 runs. Mohammad Yousuf, on the other hand, has managed to grab 9720 ODI runs in 273 innings, at an average of 41.71, with a strike rate of 75, with 15 hundreds and 64 fifties, with the best score of unbeaten 141 runs.
The ODI World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan will lead Imam Ul Haq’s all-time Pakistan ODI XI. The all-rounder clubbed 3709 ODI runs at a strike rate of almost 73, with 19 fifties and one century, besides collecting 182 wickets at an economy of under four.
Even after having some of the great wicket-keeper batters in the history of the game, Imam Ul Haq went with Kamran Akmal, who finished with 3236 ODI runs at a strike rate of 84.
‘I’ll go with Kamran Akmal as the wicketkeeper-batsman. It was a bit tricky for me.’ The Pakistan opener explained. ‘There were a lot of options like Moin bhai and Saifi bhai but I’ll go with Kamran Akmal because he has a lot of match-winning performances in ODIs.’
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The off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq found a place in the team, having taken 288 ODI wickets at an economy of 4.29. The left-arm pace of Wasim Akram will be present in the said, having picked up 502 ODI scalps at an economy of under four. Mohammad Asif and Waqar Younis too are part of the side, as the former has 46 ODI scalps, while the latter recorded 416 wickets.
Imam Ul Haq’s all-time Pakistan ODI XI:
Saeed Anwar, Babar Azam, Javed Miandad, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Imran Khan (c), Kamran Akmal (wk), Saqlain Mushtaq, Mohammad Asif, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram.