Known as the axeman for the way he chops the ball past point, Ijaz will mystify the lovers of pure technique and gladden the hearts of those who watch the game for sheer entertainment.

Ijaz made his Test debut against India in Chennai in 1987; Ijaz started his career as a late order batsman and scored his first fifty in Leeds later that year. Ijaz scored his first Test century against Australia at Faisalabad in 1988. His knock was special as it helped rescue Pakistan from a shambolic 25/4 to a respectable 316. Ijaz seemed to reserve his best for the Aussies scoring 6 of his 12 Test hundreds against them.

Ijaz is a strong player off the backfoot especially the cut past point and the pulls over mid-wicket. This can be attributed to the fact that he has a back lift ideally suited for such strokes. His batting stance looked very ungainly but proved to be very effective. Ijaz though struggled for consistency as exemplified by 33 single digit scores and 54 scores of less than 20 of his 92 innings.

Ijaz was a regular member of the ODI team since his debut against West Indies in 1986 and has featured in as many as 250 ODIs. His best innings in this format was a brutal 139 against a hapless Indian side at Lahore in 1997. Not many notice that Ijaz was a part of the playing XI in the entire 1992 WC which was eventually won by Pakistan.

Ijaz was one of the best fielders in the Pakistan line up and used to occupy the coveted off-side positions to save runs. In the murky world of cricket politics, Ijaz was held responsible for the Pakistan meltdown in the finals of the 1999 WC and was dropped from the squad. He did make a comeback to the ODI team during the tri-series in Australia, but despite three fifties was dropped from the side again. He made a surprising comeback during Singapore Challenge tri-series later that year but was dropped despite performing superbly. Ijaz announced his retirement from all formats of the game in 2003.

Ijaz Ahmad was arrested on 25th March 2009, on the grounds that he has submitted a bogus bank cheque of 10 million rupees. Later on the lawyer of Ijaz Ahmed stated to media men that Ijaz has been tortured mentally by the police and asked for justice, saying that it is not the way to treat a national hero. He was later acquitted from all the charges.

Ijaz Ahmed was the coach of the national U-19 squad which finished as the runner-up in the 2009 WC. Ijaz is now serving as an assistant coach to the national team.


By Pradeep Krishnamurthy