Cool, calm, classy

Inzamam-ul-Haq: a class act with the bat © AFP

At the outset it'll be fair to say that numbers won't do complete justice to Inzamam-ul-Haq's class as a batsman, and his contribution to Pakistan cricket: he finished his 378-match ODI career with an average of 39.52; among batsmen who have played at least 100 one-day internationals, Inzamam's average ranks only 23rd, with many lesser names placed higher - Boeta Dippenaar, Geoff Marsh and Nick Knight are among the batsmen who occupy higher slots. Inzamam's merit, though, was in maintaining those numbers over a career that spanned 16 years, in shoring up a batting line-up which was often - barring a player or two - inexperienced and erratic, and in leading them to many victories as batsman and captain, especially through the second half of his career.

Inzamam's 11,739 ODI runs is second only to Sachin Tendulkar's 14,847 (click here for the full list), while his 83 half-centuries is a record, six better than Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Among Pakistan batsmen he is easily on top, almost 4000 clear of the second-placed Mohammad Yousuf. In terms of averages, only four Pakistani batsmen average more.

Inzamam's talents as a strokeplayer are immense, but the outstanding feature of his batting, especially in the last six years of his career, has been the manner in which he has fashioned run-chases. Since 2001, he has clearly been at his best when batting second, averaging 43.63 in run-chases, and only 35.20 when batting first. Among batsmen who have been involved in at least 50 run-chases during this period, Inzamam's average has been bettered by just four batsmen.

In the last few years, Inzamam preferred to drop himself down to No.5 to shore up the lower order. The move didn't meet with universal approval, but Inzamam stuck with it through most of the games during this period, and the numbers below show why. His stats in the last five years show he was a master of controlling games during the last overs - in the first 20 overs he only averaged 38 and scored at less than four, but in the last 20 the average climbed to almost 50, and he scored at nearly a run a ball.

And while he always made the news for his sluggish running between the wickets - his 40 run-outs is next only to Marvan Atapattu's 41 - it wasn't as if he scored the bulk of his runs in boundaries. The key, rather, was his ability to minimise the number of dot balls: of the 808 deliveries he faced in the last 20 overs since 2002, only 367 didn't fetch a run (45%), while just 338 of his 791 runs came in fours and sixes (42.7%).

Inzamam's stoic and phlegmatic demeanour made him an undemonstrative captain - critics thought he was too laidback - but while some of that criticism might have been justified, the extra responsibility of captaincy certainly didn't affect his batting ability. If anything, it made him even more effective - the table below shows his batting average is higher than any other captain's (among those who have led at least 50 times). In the 289 matches in which he didn't lead, his average dropped to 38.22. (Click here for Inzamam's career summary.)

If there can be a criticism against Inzamam, it's the fact that - in ODIs at least - he didn't perform at his best on the big occasions, and against the top teams. His exhilarating 60 in the 1992 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand remains one of his best ODI knocks, but since then he consistently struggled in World Cups - he finished with only 717 runs from 33 innings at a paltry average of 23.90, with no centuries. Similarly, his average against Australia and South Africa were in the early 30s, while he underperformed quite significantly in the 35 finals he played in as well. What he achieved over a career that stretched 16 years, though, far outweighs these blemishes.