SWITCHING ALLEGIANCE
Fawad Alam turns 37 in October this year. © Getty
Out of favor batter Fawad Alam has called time on his Pakistan career that spanned for 15 years. Alam, who turns 37 in October, will turn up as a ‘local’ player for the Chicago Kingsmen in Minor League Cricket T20, a tournament that underpins USA’s just concluded flagship T20 tournament Major League Cricket (MLC). He joins a long list of Pakistan players like Sami Aslam, Hammad Azam, Saif Badar and Mohammad Mohsin who moved bases to USA to ply their trade in the country.
Although he made his white ball debut for Pakistan in 2007, Alam’s presence has been sporadic at best in the Pakistan dressing room. Notching up a ton on Test debut in 2009, he was dropped a couple of Tests later and played his next Test after a gap of 11 years, despite amassing mountains of runs with an average of 55 in the domestic circuit. Alam established himself in the Test team for a brief period after his career got a new lease of life in 2020. He vindicated his selection with a hundred in New Zealand in trying circumstances in his 3rd game after the comeback. He topped that up with hundreds against South Africa, West Indies and Zimbabwe.
However, Alam’s unorthodox technique got found out against Australia in early 2022. He managed 33 in 4 innings on the most docile tracks and was eventually dumped after failing in a Test against Sri Lanka in July 2022. He was part of Pakistan’s 2009 T20 World Cup winning squad but could only muster up 11 more games in the format after the championship win. He played 19 Tests, 38 ODIs and 24 T20Is for Pakistan with 5 Test centuries and a solitary ODI century against Sri Lanka in the 2014 Asia Cup.
Alam’s non selection in Tests accompanied by an unconventional technique divided opinions across the spectrum in Pakistan cricket for almost a decade. Former players and media vociferously clamored for his selection as he churned out runs by the truckloads season after season in the Qaid-e-Azam trophy. He walks into the sunset with over 14,000 runs in domestic cricket in 201 first class games over 19 years.
© Cricbuzz
