20 June 2018. Pakistan vs Zimbabwe. 4th ODI. 37th over. 5th ball. Fakhar Zaman gets down for a slog-sweep-looking top-edge that somehow ends up as a six – like it always does *“India, are you reading” banners pop up*. And with it he brings up his 150. And with it his ODI series average crosses Zimbabwe’s total run count of 368 in the series so far. Comparing an individual’s average with a team’s cumulative total is a big no-no for English – faulty comparison fallacy if anyone’s interested – but Fakhar hasn’t been nice to English in the past anyway (ref. CT semi-final). Such is the brilliance of this brave, brutal batsman whom we know as Fakhar Zaman.
Fakhar was born in 1990 in Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He grew up watching and playing and loving cricket. While he was always exceptionally well at the game and would have liked to pursue it professionally, he was dragooned by his father into joining the Pakistan Navy in 2007. After all, in accordance with our social norms, could Fakhar Zaman have continued being Zaman’s fakhar (pride) with a ‘substandard career choice’?
Becoming a professional cricketer was Fakhar’s dream, one that you see with eyes open, and the good thing about dreams this type is that you don’t forget them the other day – or even the other half a decade as in his case. In 2013, Fakhar finally, and thankfully, decided to advance from his naval career in pursuit of his childhood dream, and began appearing for multiple regional outfits including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Abbottabad Falcons. Journey from here wasn’t easy yet it was certainly worth it. After performing reasonably well in Pakistan’s thankless circuit, averaging 49 in List A, for over five years, Fakhar made his ODI debut on one of the grandest of stages, the 2017 Champions Trophy. There was no looking back after that.
With an average of 63 and strike rate over 110, Fakhar single handedly turned Pakistan’s batting fortunes in the Champions Trophy. He was bound to gain the world’s attention with his impressive knocks in the tournament but not many expected him to live up to the newly formed expectations, considering his unorthodox, maybe also luck dependent, technique. And they were right. Fakhar did not live up to those expectations; he surpassed them!
After big scores against mighty England and India in Champions Trophy, he gave remarkable performances, including an unbeaten 82, in New Zealand too, in an otherwise abysmal show from Pakistan which saw them being whitewashed 5-0. The on-going Zimbabwe series was the cherry on the cake – a two-pound cherry on a one-pound cake. The series was always expected to be uncompetitive, especially with some of Zimbabwe’s top players opting out, but no one expected it to be as ‘catastrophic’ as it has turned out to be. Zimbabwe Cricket’s invite to PCB for the on-going series is now being rumored of having a paragraph dedicated to Fakhar Zaman, asking him to come and shatter some long-held records. Fakhar has already managed to enter the elite double centurion club in just 17 innings, more than 400 innings earlier than the club’s founding member, the Sachin Tendulkar. He is also set to break Sir Viv Richards record of being fastest to 1000 runs, after more than 40 years. He only needs 20 runs in 3 innings for the feat, which, with his current form, should be a walk in the park – on a hoverboard, with turbo installed.
Fakhar is to 4s what Afridi was to 6s. He replicates Afridi’s boundary hitting ability and is yet substantially more consistent. He is fearless, and in control while not looking in control at all. Many batsmen slow down as they come close to achieving milestones like multiples of 50. Yet Fakhar was yesterday seen getting all those multiples – and there were four them – with 4s and 6s. His sincerity to the game and hard work is beyond question, and his composure during pressure situations sufficient to single handedly cause opposition to concede defeat.
What’s rather strange, and fortunate, is that Fakhar rose to fame just immediately after Pakistan, due to unfortunate events, lost its another key opener, who looked just as dangerous to the books of cricket records. As the nation grieved the loss of an apparently irreplaceable talent at his red-hot form, Fakhar Zaman emerged with a form even redder, and even hotter. A team that had collectively failed to play out 50 overs in the recent past, found an opener in Fakhar Zaman who could achieve the feat on his own. “Pakistan Cricket at its best. One minute down, next minute up.”
With his recent performances and records, he already appears to stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the giants of the game. However, is he really that great yet? Certainly not. Can he become that great ever? We will have to wait and see. Do you know which Pakistani holds the record for the joint second fastest to 1000 runs? Azhar Ali! And he never made it to the 2000 runs mark. After 50-odd innings, he failed to even find a place in the ODI team. Fakhar certainly deserves to be lauded for his double century but does it come even close to Tendulkar’s unbeaten 200 eight years back against a bowling attack comprising the likes of Dale Steyn?
What we can say right now is that Fakhar Zaman is a highly promising prospect and one hell of an entertainment – only hell if you are the opposition team’s supporter – to watch on his day. While many still fail to understand how he manages to get those big scores, it doesn’t take anything away from his brilliance. It’s his natural game; even if it’s wrong yet it works, it’s probably right. Indubitably, luck has been on his side too. However, while luck alone may take you to the famous (or infamous, depending on where you come from) Final, it takes much more to display a MoM winning performance on that day (like perhaps ‘assistance’ from world’s number one ODI bowler as of 21 July 2018’s rankings).
Will Fakhar get another century against Zimbabwe tomorrow? Will he continue to deliver just as well against South Africa and England? Can he do on 16 June 2019 in UK (Ind vs Pak WC match) what he did on 18 of the same month in the same country in 2017? Too many questions, too few answers.