| Personal information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Imran Nazir | |||
| Born | 16 December 1981 Gujranwala, Pakistan | |||
| Batting style | Right hand bat | |||
| Role | Batsman | |||
| ODI shirt no. | 16 | |||
| Career statistics | ||||
| Competition | Test | ODI | T20I | |
| Matches | 8 | 79 | 13 | |
| Runs scored | 427 | 1,895 | 318 | |
| Batting average | 32.84 | 24.61 | 28.90 | |
| 100s/50s | 2/1 | 2/9 | 0/2 | |
| Top score | 131 | 160 | 59 | |
| Balls bowled | – | 49 | – | |
| Wickets | – | 1 | – | |
| Bowling average | – | 48.00 | – | |
| 5 wickets in innings | – | 0 | – | |
| 10 wickets in match | – | 0 | – | |
| Best bowling | – | 1/3 | – | |
| Catches/stumpings | 4/– | 26/– | 4/– | |
| Source: CricketArchive, 27 November 2009 | ||||
Imran Nazir (Urdu: عمران نذیر) (born 16 December 1981) is a Pakistani right handed batsman in cricket who represented the Pakistan national cricket team in Test cricket, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket matches.
Career
Nazir made his debut in Test cricket on March 1999, against Sri Lanka at Lahore in Pakistan and a few days later, he made his One Day International debut against the same opposition at Visakhapatnam in India. He played in 8 Test matches between 1999-2002 and secured a spot in the Pakistan squad since 2002. He also played in One Day International arena, but he could never cement his place in the squad. The emergence of several Pakistan opening batsmen such as Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Taufeeq Umar and Salman Butt kept him out of the national side. However he displayed excellent cricketing performances in First class cricket.
Nazir made his return to the national team in the second One Day International against South Africa in February 2007 during Pakistan's tour of South Africa. He impressed the Pakistan national selectors with his innings of 57 runs from just 39 deliveries, though he struggled to score runs during the rest of the tournament.
Nazir was named in Pakistan's squad for the 2007 World Cup. He scored 160 runs against Zimbabwe in Pakistan's last match during the 2007 Cricket World Cup, after being knocked out by Ireland.
It was the second highest score by a Pakistani batsman and the eighth highest score by any batsman in World Cup history and his 8 sixes equaled the World Cup record of Australian batsman, Ricky Ponting.[1] It was also the highest runs he scored in List A cricket.[2]. He now remains a regular member of Pakistan's Twenty20 squads.
In 2008, Nazir signed for the Indian Cricket League and played for the Lahore Badshahs. He scored 111 runs not out, off just 44 deliveries, against the Hyderabad Heroes in the third of the best of three finals of the tournament and helped his team to victory. After signing up for the Indian Cricket League, his chances of ever playing again for Pakistan looked slim. However, on 2 February, 2009, a Pakistani court suspended the ban on Indian Cricket League players[3], which paved the way for Nazir to make a return to the One Day International and Twenty20 squad during their tour of Sri Lanka in August 2009.
Achievement
Test cricket centuries
- He scored 131 runs against the West Indies at Bridgetown in the Carribean on 18 May 2000.
- He scored 127 runs against New Zealand at Lahore in Pakistan on 1 May 2002.
One Day International centuries
- He scored 160 runs against Zimbabwe at Kingston Park in England on 21 March 2007
- He scored 105 runs not out against Zimbabwe at National Cricket Stadium in Morocco on 15 April 2000 and became the second youngest batsman to score a century in a One Day International match.
