Pakistan’s former Test cricketer Saeed Anwar has said individual landmarks are meaningless if they do not contribute to the team’s victory. Speaking on ICC Radio, Anwar said: “I don’t see any value in batsmen making big runs, establishing records but not winning matches for their sides. Pakistan and India should be praised for providing joy and entertainment to world cricket” Former Pakistan captain and one of the most destructive openers Saeed Anwar reflected on his career in which he scored 12,904 international runs, including 31 centuries and 68 half-centuries.
Saeed, who played 55 Tests (seven as captain) and 247 ODIs (11 as captain) between 1989 and 2003, said: “I have no regrets from whatever cricket I played and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The good thing about my career was not individual performances but collectively the Pakistan team won a lot which is the most satisfying part. The most memorable thing for me was that I played in an era when Pakistan had its best-ever side. “High and lows are part of a batsman’s life, especially for an opener. The best teams in my era were India and Australia and my objective was to score against these two teams. I was lucky enough to score against both the sides.”
In Tests, Saeed averaged 59 against Australia and 58.80 against India while his average against the two countries in ODIs was 23.55 and 43.5, respectively. Saeed also relives memories of his magnificent 194 in an ODI against India in Chennai in 1997 (a record until it was equaled by Zimbabwe’s Charles Coventry in August 2009 before it was broken by Sachin Tendulkar in 2010) and then his 188 not out in the second innings of the Kolkata Test against the same opposition in 1999. “My style was a bit different. I was never a kind of a person who would score big runs and set individual records. My main aim was to play such cricket which could entertain the spectators and crowd, while playing for the team at the same time. “The best thing about these two innings was that we won on both occasions. I don’t see any value in making big runs, establishing records but not winning matches. A player should play such an innings that his side should win.
“I really rate Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting very high because whenever they have scored runs, their teams have mostly won,” says Saeed who started his career with a pair against the West Indies in Faisalabad in 1990. Saeed also speaks about his all-time favourite cricketer, batsmen he admires most, the most difficult bowlers he faced in his career and his most memorable international innings. The show can be used in whole or part by radio stations that want free cricket content for editorial use, while the public can also download it straight from www.icc-cricket.com or from iTunes.
Milestones meaningless if not for win: Saeed Anwar
