Abdul Razzaq: Shining with bat 'n' ball

Abdul Razzaq is a cricketer with lots of potential. His bowling speed is good and his line and length excellent. Supposedly a middle-order batsman but has also batted well higher up for Pakistan.

Abdul Razzaq Photo © CricInfo

Razzaq is one of those cricketers who learn from every match they play in and continue developing, adding new tricks to their repertoire.

Very quickly, this calm young man has performed well enough to carve a niche for himself in a team already bristling with some very talented bowlers.

Razzaq saw that there was room for an all-rounder and worked on certain aspects of his batting technique, making himself a very useful addition to the batting line-up.

As a bowler, Razzaq has the ability to move the ball both ways, the leg-cutter being his stock delivery.

Abdul Razzaq is now an important member of the Pakistan squad. A devious swinger in his armoury and his ability to concentrate on line and length make him a successful operator of the new or even the older ball. His extreme accuracy has often managed to contain even the most aggressive of batsmen; not allowing them to score runs freely and helped Pakistan win some very important matches.

Razzaq is one of the most reliable bowlers around in the one-day cricket scene and in a recent interview I asked Razzaq if he got into international cricket too early?

Razzaq says he appeared on the international scene because his performance at the junior level was very convincing to the selectors.

Playing international cricket at the age of 16 was no small feat and Razzaq said he had never ever dreamt of getting a breakthrough at such a young age.

I asked "Who helped you in your career?" He came back with, "My family is my greatest strength. They are always around when I need them. Also, Wasim Akram has been very encouraging".

Adding, "Everybody in our country thinks of Wasim Akram as his idol. I am no exception and Wasim Akram remains my ideal cricketer".

Razzaq was so inspired by Wasim Akram that he himself decided to become a fast bowler. "Wasim Akram inspired me. His exploits thrilled me. So I also decided to be a fast bowler," he said.

Pakistan U-19 tour of West Indies in 1996 was the turning point in Razzaq's career and he captured 17 wickets doing equally well with the bat.

One of his most memorable matches was during the Carlton and United Series game against India at Hobart in January 2000 where he scored an unbeaten 70 and took five wickets for 48 runs. In another match in the same series he hit five consecutive boundaries off Aussie fast bowler Glenn McGrath.

"How do you rate yourself as a bowler?" I asked him.

"I don't have the pace of Shoaib Akhtar, but I have got enough variation to pick up crucial wickets," he replied.

A lot of cricket is taking place all over the world these days, especially one-day cricket, which makes it difficult for cricketers to maintain fitness.

Abdul Razzaq is referred to as one of the leading all-rounders in the world, but the honour hasn't made him arrogant. He knows his roots, and he hasn't forgotten the hard work he had put in.

Bowling is Razzaq's forte, and he is very confident but sometimes he becomes nervous when he is at the crease. Many of his fans wonder why he becomes shaky when he is in the middle.

Razzaq says that when he bowls, he often finds Wasim Akram guiding him and helping him keep his cool. The support from Wasim Bhai in the field is an asset for him. He gets counsel from his bowling idol before every delivery.

He admits that he feels nervous when he bats. However he has gained confidence after some very fine knocks against the West Indies and in England. He avoids playing loose shorts early in the innings and his running between the wickets has improved too.

Razzaq finds it a great challenge when he has to bowl against Sachin Tendulkar whom he rates as the number one batsman in the world.

He hopes to play for Pakistan as long as he can and become as great a cricketer as Imran Khan and, of course, Wasim Akram!

The youngster has a lot of cricket in him, and experience and confidence has made him strong. He has every reason to be satisfied with his career and he is set to do better for the team.

Razzaq has some very fond memories of the 1999 World Cup. The interesting thing was he batted at one down and fully lived up to his captain's confidence. He says that one day during the nets, Wasim Akram asked him if he could bat up the order. "I told him I would try my best. In the nets, I faced Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis and gained a lot of confidence," Razzaq told me.

That practice session boosted Razzaq's confidence so much so that he gave one of the best performances of his career.

Pakistan Junior team coach, Haroon Rasheed has also played a great part in grooming Razzaq and has polished the talent Hasan Raza, Imran Nazir and Shoaib Malik too. All these youngsters are thankful to Haroon.