Creative Contributions of Pakistani Cricketers to International Cricket

The history of cricket is full of unique contributions of Pakistani players in International Cricket. Following are some arts which have been introduced by Pakistani players to cricket:-

Reverse Swing. Reverse swing is an art which added sensation to cricket. Before this art, swing was available to bowlers only in start of inning on new ball or because of grassy wicket. But former Pakistani fast bowler Sarfaraz Nawaz introduced the art of reverse swing to cricket. He invented this art by his own genius by keeping one side of ball rough and other side shined. Sarfaraz transferred this art to Imran Khan, Imran Khan transferred it to Waseem Akram and then Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhter and Umer Gul used this art with mastership. This art made batting difficult for batsmen in middle of the inning. All Cricket World was afraid of this weapon from Pakistani bowlers, therefore, they blame Pakistan for ball tempering after every match in which they failed to face reverse swing. Although in very rare cases allegations were true but they blame every extra ordinary performance by Pakistani bowlers for ball tempering. With the passage of time this art has been transferred to other countries also. But when other countries use it, it is an art, when Pakistani use it, it is ball tempering.

Swinging Yarker. This delivery was a step forward in reverse swing. The ball was swinging in air and batsmen were in trouble because of this swing. Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis used this art perfectly on old ball.

Doosra. Doosra is an art which make revolutionary changes in off spin bowling. This delivery was introduced by Saqline Mushtaq. Batsmen were feeling difficulties in facing Saqline’s “Doosra”. Before the introduction of this delivery batsmen were expecting leg spin or googly from leg spinners. But “Doosra” was a delivery like leg spin from a finger spin bowler. Although career of Sqalin became at end very soon because of injuries, but after him Muttiah Muralitharan and Harbhajan Sing  troubled the batsmen using “Doosra”. Even the story of Australian batsmen was a failure in facing Dossr, They were so frustrated that they tried to ban Harbhjan Sing and Morli from cricket by blaming them for throwing. 

Reverse Sweep. Reverse sweep is a shot which Legendary Batsman Javed Miadan introduced to world of cricket. He used it as unconventional shot in difficult situation when runs were required. But now in T 20 and ODIs it is a successful shot for batsman to score runs quickly.

Shahid Afridi Factor. Shaid Afridi, a hard hitter of cricket ball is unique character in world of cricket. This hard hitter brave character completely changed the soul of cricket by hard hitting without westing time and balls. He played his shots in every situation without fear and got strike rate of more than 100%. One can consider it his Weakness or Braveness but he never applied restrictions on his self. In start of his career he occupied record of fastest century in ODIs. It was not the fastest century of cricket history but was also start of changing face of cricket. After his first 2 or 3 matches he was popular figure among the fans of cricket because of his aggressive batting. Looking into the interest of cricket fans in Afrid’s batting, ICC started thinking regarding change in cricket for maintaining enthusiastic interest of cricket lover in every match.  First of all ICC introduced power plays to ODIs, but it was not enough. Step by step it introduced another form of cricket matches “T 20”. It was Shahid’s unique aggressive batting which made ICC to change the game according to the whishes of fans.

Besides these arts Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar is also having fastest delivery record.  International media has always tried to go harsh against Pakistan in every controversy. But now it is time to highlight the positive characteristics of Pakistan cricket also for boosting the moral of Pakistan cricket which is in difficult situation now-a-days. Because no other country has contributed so many charms as Pakistan did for the promotion of the game.