Cricketers, follow Imran Farhat's example and find the right father-in-law!

Aspiring cricketers should learn from Imran Farhat; forget playing well, just marry the daughter of a PCB official!

After having read the famous quote, “A man in love is incomplete until he is married. Then he’s finished”, I realised how untrue this was in case of Mr Imran Farhat. No one could finish him ever since he got married and once again, our superhero is back!

Imran Farhat has successfully made another comeback into the Pakistani cricket team. This time, I am comparing his return to that of Mr Aamir Liaquat’s epic comeback to his home TV channel. Both have certainly inscribed their marks among the masses, due to their common talent of making comebacks. Mr Liaquat relishes a ‘doctorate’ degree, whereas Mr Farhat is enjoying a certificate; the marriage certificate.

Since his “phenomenal” heroics at the Champions Trophy, that enabled Pakistan to take an early exit to enjoy a much-needed breather before important future tours, Farhat’s workload was realised by the PCB and they decided to give him ‘due rest’ for the West Indies series.

Against all odds, the master of comebacks has been selected for the Zimbabwe tour.

His recent domestic performance is in front of my eyes; I am stunned to see that he scored 16, 7, 14, 5, 5, 65 runs in his last six domestic matches. I must acknowledge that those 65 runs were enough to prove his capabilities and to bring him back to the team against an important opposition like Zimbabwe.

The only other reason that comes to mind is perhaps hidden in this quote,

“Before marriage, a man yearns for the woman he loves. After the marriage the “Y” becomes silent”.

Now, I would request for the entire nation to observe a moment of silence for Farhat’s return, just like it is silently watching “Ramazan Aman”.

You might all know that Nasir Jamshed has been dropped from the Test squad, but do you know why?

To date, he has no father-in-law in the PCB. In fact, he has no in-laws at all. Otherwise, a young and talented player like Jamshed, presented no other reasons to be dropped out. On the other hand, Farhat will go ahead and score some cheap runs, to (once again) ruin some important future series. But of course, he will still be called back. After all, who can keep “damad ji” out of action (and the news) for a longer period of time?

Jamshed, a little piece of advice, if you ever decide to marry just remember, “love is blind, and marriage is the eye-opener”. If you’re smart, you’ll realise what else marriage will open up for you in front of blind selectors!

Dear selectors: have you really selected Faisal Iqbal and Wahab Riaz too? Is there any criterion or merit for such decisions? Apart from Faisal Iqbal’s modest average of 26.76 in 26 Test matches, his last few domestic innings read 25, 22, 48, 4, 4, 42. He, aged 31, is not a youngster anymore either. How long will he get chances?

Two relatively younger batsmen, Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam, average 48.94 and 55.96 in domestic, respectively. If you won’t play them against Zimbabwe, then where and when will you try them? Similarly, Usman Salahuddin (averaging 47.21), Haris Sohail (averaging 51+) have been overlooked for Test team selection, for no apparent reason. If Imran Farhat can get 40 Test matches over a decade with a modest average of just 30, why can’t Fawad Alam after averaging 40+ in only three Test matches?

In the bowling department, PCB opted for Rahat Ali and Ehsan Adil, instead of consistent performers like Sadaf Hussain and Asad Ali. Asad couldn’t impress the selectors after his performance in the ODI series in the West Indies, but his First Class bowling statistics (averaging 22.87 for 355 wickets) are far better than the other two. He certainly deserved more opportunities.

There are some other notable omissions too. For instance, the young aspiring wicket keeper Mohammad Rizwan has also been dropped past the West Indies tour, without even being tried. He averages about 44.32 in the First Class and his snubbing is mind boggling. How can a cricketer prove himself without even being tried?

Similarly, Hammad Azam was dropped after only two chances, which is unfair to a young player like him. Pakistan desperately needs an all rounder and if Azam is not good enough, then Abdul Razzaq could have been reselected. The World T20 is around the corner and we need at least one good all rounder to compete against the international teams out there.

Finally, another old saying reads, “you have two choices in life: you can stay single and be miserable, or get married and wish you were dead”. However, contrary to this statement, I would advise our young aspiring cricketers to get married to the daughter of a PCB official and be certain that another comeback is always round the corner.

You cannot choose your uncles, but you can always choose your in-laws!