10 years and 259 days later, a cold comeback: Fawad Alam’s story
10 years, 259 days. 3911 days precisely! That’s how long Fawad Alam stayed away from donning the whites for Pakistan. The last time he played a Test was when none amongst Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson had debuted in the longest format of the game. After making his Test debut in July 2009 against New Zealand, Alam played three Tests and scored 241 runs at 41.66.
In his very first Test, he went onto score 168; second to only Yasir Ahmed’s 170 in the list of the highest individual score on debut for Pakistan. That was some way to arrive at the top level. But little did he know that he will wait and wait and keep on waiting until he joins the record books for the longest gaps between appearances.
The wait
Quite shockingly, that’s what was meant to be. All his years as a player, he failed to make way inside for he coincided with the prime of Pakistan’s middle-order: Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, and Misbah-ul-Haq. Probably, Test cricket was not meant to be. He must have been content to be playing limited-overs cricket for his team. But sooner than later, that wasn’t meant to be either. Come 2010, and he was dumped from the ODI and T20I squads as well.
If it’s not meant to be, it isn’t. Not even if you average 56 after 166 first-class matches and amass over 12000 runs with 34 centuries to your name. Not even if you have 203 List A appearances, and 6577 runs at an average of close to 49.
Probably destiny’s heart melted on Alam as he was recalled after almost 11 long years- a period in which Pakistan played 88 Tests- to play his 4th Test. On return, Alam was set to register his name in the record books as his break would become the 7th longest in the 143-year history of Test cricket.
Fortunately, his misfortune was not as unfortunate as that of Gareth Batty, who missed 142 Tests in 11 years and 137 days for England, or his countryman Younis Ahmed, who returned only after missing 104 Tests, from November 1969 to February 1984 i.e. 17 years and 111 days, for Pakistan.
The comeback
So, Fawad Alam eventually returns to play a Test for Pakistan and he gets to make his comeback against England in England. His captain chooses to bat first and after some time, the moment finally arrives when Alam walks out to join Babar Azam at 117/4. The former one is a man who lost everything to fate, the latter is the contemporary star for Pakistan.
The moment he arrives, the aesthetics, technique, orthodoxy is taken to a toll: how on earth could he bat with a stance like that? Asks the fraternity as the meme-makers immediately run to their task. Alam faced three deliveries from Stuart Broad; looked nervy and unsettled. He faced Chris Woakes then, who is England’s best all-rounder at home and muddled up trying to defend only to get his on the pads followed by a vociferous appeal from England players.
Umpire Kettleborough wasn’t convinced, but England reviewed it and DRS made sure that Fawad Alam’s comeback was a shorter one. After almost 11 years of wait, that’s what it turns out to be: a four-ball duck at the Ageas Bowl.
