Saeed Anwar

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On Saeed Anwar's reliable shoulders mostly rests the eventual outcome of a match for Pakistan. If he comes good, scoring quick runs in his exquisite style, with Pakistan managing to pile up a reasonable score, the match has usually been won at the very outset. And if he falters, it generally means tough going ahead for his team.

The one nagging problem area for Anwar, however, has been his health and the injuries that he has frequently been running into. In the last five years, on a number of occasions he has had to sit out matches, sometimes even whole series or tournaments, like the recent 2000-2001 Test rubber in New Zealand, on fitness grounds.

That has been a destabilising factor for the team, for an opener of his calibre and experience not being there Pakistan's top order sometimes struggles, putting the onus on the middle order as well.

That aside, Saeed Anwar has raised the left-handers' natural elegance to dazzling new heights. Gifted with a keen eye and superb timing, his attacking batting has forced many an opposing skipper to pull a key bowler out of the attack on countless occasions. Saeed, at his best, is simply unstoppable, he towers over all kinds of bowling, and becomes the very essence of classical batsmanship in the grand manner.
As with the other greats, it is next to impossible to set a field for him, and his greatest strength lies in finding the gaps with effortless ease.

A clean striker of the ball, Saeed is good on both sides of the wicket, his only failing being a tendency to chase the away-going ball pitched outside the off stump. He makes good use of the field restrictions in the first 15 overs of a limited-overs contest and then builds on the start with textbook cricketing strokes, as evidenced by his 19 hundreds and 39 fifties, in One-day Internationals. With the world record for the highest score in one-day cricket (194) under his belt, Anwar is equally proficient in the five-day version of the game, one of the few specialists, holding on to the opening slot in both forms of the game. His highest in Test cricket is unconquered 188, and in 86 innings (52 Tests) he has 10 hundreds and 25 scores of 50-plus against his name – a testimony to his consistency, which is also reflected in a good average of 46.30.

In fact other than Anwar, Sanath Jayasuriya and Gary Kirsten are the other prominent names who open for their countries in both editions of the game. And by sheer coincidence, like Anwar, they too are southpaws.

Saeed's mastery of the bowling and his calm demeanour also ease the pressure on his opening partner, whoever he may be, allowing him to gain in confidence and start to score runs at the other end.

No wonder, Anwar is being considered the key to Pakistan's success in England, for in the seaming conditions prevailing in May if he provides runs at the top of the order, it might ensure a respectable total. And that, given the ability of the Pakistan attack to bowl England out, may prove to be of crucial importance.