Ijaz Ahmed (cricketer, born 1968)

Career achievements

A powerful hitter of the ball with his bat, Ijaz got popularity, after becoming the 2nd Pakistani Batsman who scored 10 ODI centuries after Saeed Anwar. He played some memorable innings against countries like, India, England, Australia, West Indies, Sri Lanka and South Africa. At Lahore, in 1997, Ijaz collapsed the Indian bowling attack by making a quick century off just 68 balls including 9 sixes, remaining not out for 139*, and this is his highest score in the ODI. In the following year, He again returned with his 132 against Zimababwe in the 3rd and decisive ODI of home series.

In Pepsi cup 1999, played in India, Ijaz helped his team to victory in the second round match against India by scoring 90 not out. Pakistan was given an easy target of 197, but the number of overs were reduced from 50 to 47, due to slow over rate by Pakistan. Initially Pakistan lost its first 3 wickets for just 21 runs, when Ijaz Ahamd joined his traditional partner Inzamam ul Haq and attained victory for their side, both remaining not out on 90 and 78 respectively.

In the same year after Pepsi cup, Pakistan cricket team visited Sharjah to participate in the tri-nation cricket tournament with England and India. In the opening match against England, Ijaz scored a memorable innings of 137 and was out just two runs short of his highest score which he has scored against India in 1997.

Test batting

In test cricket, Ijaz Ahmed was much significant with his bat. Though he appeared to be unreliable often, Ijaz scored 12 test centuries. Ijaz scored his first and only double century of test cricket against Sri Lanka, when he scored 211. This was the same match, in which Wasim Akram got his second wicket hat-trick, a match which Pakistan eventually won by an innings and 170 runs. Ijaz has also been the top runs maker from Pakistani side against South Africa.

The event of 21 April 1997

On 21 April 1997, in a Test match against Sri Lanka, Ijaz Ahmed was at the crease on 97, when the famous run out attempt by Sri Lankan fielder, Romessh Kaluwitharana, brought ambiguity in the decision. It was difficult for the umpires to tell whether Ijaz should be given run out or if it should be his partner Salim Malik. The TV replays suggested Salim Malik had been run out, that he but eventually the third umpire, K. T. Francis gave his decision against Ijaz Ahmed and so he remained short of his century. However, after repeated replays of the event, Ijaz Ahmad was called back to the crease and Salim Malik was declared as run out. After his return to crease, Ijaz successfully completed his century. This was the first time for a batsman to return from the pavilion to the crease, after being declared out since 1987. ^[1]

Ijaz as a fielder

Ijaz Ahmed is regarded as one of the best fielders Pakistan has ever produced. He was an excellent fielder, often inside the circle at square position and mid on. His best fielding in a match against Australia in 1999 world cup, initial stage greatly restricted the overflow of runs by Australian batsmen in the final moments of the match. It was due to his best fielding that Pakistan won that match by 10 runs after a thrilling battle.

Isolation from the team and come back

Ijaz Ahmad was a regular member of the team on one down position, of 1999 cricket world cup played in England from 14 May to 20 June 1999. His performance appeared not too good. He also got injured in the first match of 1999 world cup, when he was hit on the leg by West Indian pacer, Dillon during a successful appeal for LBW at Bristol. This injury affected his performance in rest of the matches and he was dropped from the next match against Scotland. After the dramatic collapse of Pakistani batting line up in 1999 world cup final against Australia, Ijaz remained the top scorer of the innings with 22 runs. He was also the batsman who was surprisingly held responsible for the batting collapse in the final match. This regular succession of poor performances, led to isolation of Ijaz from the national team and so he was not a part of the national team in the Toronto Cricket Festival of 1999 against the West Indies and Sharjah Cup of late 1999. Though he was given a chance in test series against Australia and the Carlton & United Series against India and Australia, during which he performed well both in the test and one day series. In the third test, Ijaz Ahmad scored his 12th test century and sixth against Australia at Perth, a match which Pakistan eventually lost by an Innings and some runs. In the following triangular series, Ijaz Ahmad scored three half centuries, but still he was unable to take the confidence of selectors and was again dropped from the team for than a year.

Surprising come back

Following the captaincy crisis of the national team, in the absence of the injured captain, Moin Khan, The Pakistan Cricket Board surprisingly started giving indications of making Ijaz as the interim captain of the team for then the incoming Singapore Challenge series against New Zealand and South Africa. Nevertheless, he was not selected as captain but his come back in the team was confirmed after 14 months. So Ijaz Ahmad joined the team in Singapore in the absence of injured regular skipper, Moin Khan. Waqar Younis was leading the team on emergency basis. Ijaz Ahmad made a brilliant batting come back in the Singapore Challenge Series against New Zealand and South Africa. He scored a quick innings of 49 not out off just 21 balls in a rain affected match, which was reduced to 25 overs per side before toss. Ijaz's Innings helped Pakistan giving a tough target of 192 runs to New Zealand in 25 overs, a match which Pakistan eventually won by 29 runs. In the second match against the South Africans, he scored 67, a match which was won by Pakistan later on. Ijaz Ahamd remained Man of the Match in both matches and also remained the top scorer in every match of this tournament. But again it was his misfortune that beyond all this good performance, he was again dropped from then the incoming ICC Champions Trophy in 2002, and was unseen on the national side, for more than 7 months. He was again given a chance during Pakistan's cricket team tour to New Zealand in 2003, where he was selected for the test squad, but this time he didn't perform well and was dropped from then the incoming ODI series. He has never been a part of National Cricket team since then and eventually announced his formal retirement from both formats of cricket in late 2003.

Ijaz Ahmad as a coach of Pakistan's Under 19 team

Ijaz Ahamd was appointed as the coach of Pakistan's under 19 cricket team on 20 October 2009 by the Pakistan Cricket Board.^[2] It was under his coaching that the Pakistan's cricket team played brilliantly in the under 19 world cup. Pakistan's team reached final where they lost to Australia in New Zealand. However the overall performance of the team was quite good.

Coach of the National Team

After Pakistan's defeat against New Zealand at UAE in 2009's ODI series and resignation of Younis Khan from the captaincy, changes were made in the team, with Waqar Younis being installed as the coach of Pakistan's cricket team. After Pakistan was white washed by Australia in test, ODI and T20 matches in 2010, Ijaz Ahmad was selected as combined coach with Waqar Younis, a post which Ijaz Ahmad is currently serving on.

Batting Coach & Consultant in Pakistan Super League

Ijaz Ahmed is currently appointed as the batting coach and consultant for the Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League

Test centuries

Test centuries of Ijaz Ahmed
No	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Start date	Result
[1]	122	12	Australia	Faisalabad, Pakistan	Iqbal Stadium	23 September 1988	Drawn
[2]	121	14	Australia	Melbourne, Australia	Melbourne Cricket Ground	12 January 1990	Lost
[3]	137	26	Australia	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	30 November 1995	Won
[4]	103	27	New Zealand	Christchurch, New Zealand	Lancaster Park	8 December 1995	Won
[5]	141	29	England	Leeds, England	Headingley Cricket Ground	8 August 1996	Drawn
[6]	125	34	New Zealand	Rawalpindi, Pakistan	Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium	28 November 1996	Won
[7]	113	35	Sri Lanka	Colombo, Sri Lanka	R. Premadasa Stadium	19 April 1997	Drawn
[8]	151	42	West Indies	Karachi, Pakistan	National Stadium	6 December 1997	Won
[9]	155	47	Australia	Peshawar, Pakistan	Arbab Niaz Stadium	15 October 1998	Won
[10]	120	48	Australia	Karachi, Pakistan	National Stadium	22 October 1998	Drawn
[11]	211	54	Sri Lanka	Dhaka, Bangladesh	Bangabandhu National Stadium	22 March 1999	Won
[12]	115	57	Australia	Perth, Australia	WACA Ground	26 December 1999	Lost

ODI centuries

One Day International centuries of Ijaz Ahmed
No	Runs	Match	Against	City/Country	Venue	Date	Result
[1]	124*	35	Bangladesh	Chittagong, Bangladesh	Chittagong Stadium	29 October 1988	Won
[2]	102*	65	Australia	Brisbane, Australia	Brisbane Cricket Ground	10 February 1990	Won
[3]	110	104	South Africa	Rawalpind], Pakistan	Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium	20 October 1994	Won
[4]	114*	112	South Africa	Durban, Sri Lanka	Kingsmead Cricket Ground	17 December 1994	Won
[5]	105	149	Australia	Peshawar, Pakistan	Arbab Niaz Stadium	3 November 1996	Won
[6]	139*	184	India	Lahore, Pakistan	Gaddafi Stadium	2 October 1997	Won
[7]	117	195	India	Dhaka, Bangladesh	Bangabandhu National Stadium	18 January 1998	Lost
[8]	123	213	Australia	Brisbane, Australia	Brisbane Cricket Ground	10 November 1996	Lost
[9]	132	215	Zimbabwe	Rawalpindi, Pakistan	Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium	24 November 1998	Won
[10]	137	222	England	Sharjah, UAE	Sharjah Cricket Stadium	7 April 1999	Won

One-Day International Cricket

Man of the Match awards

S No	Opponent	Venue	Date	Match Performance	Result
1	Sri Lanka	Brisbane Cricket Ground, Brisbane	10 February 1990	2 Ct. ; 102* (100 balls, 9x4, 1x6)	Pakistan won by 5 wickets.[3]
2	Sri Lanka	Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah	21 December 1990	54* (78 balls, 1x4, 1x6) ; 3–0–10–0, 1 Ct.	Pakistan won by 50 runs.[4]
3	South Africa	Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi	20 October 1994	110 (110 balls, 13x4, 1x6) ; DNB	Pakistan won by 39 runs.[5]
4	South Africa	Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad	28 October 1994	DNB ; 98* (87 balls, 11x4, 1x6)	Pakistan won by 6 wickets.[6]
5	South Africa	Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban	17 December 1994	DNB, 1 Ct. ; 114* (90 balls, 17x4, 3x6)	Pakistan won by 8 wickets.[7]
6	India	Cricket, Skating & Curling Club, Toronto	21 September 1996	90 (110 balls: 7x4, 1x6) ; 1 Ct.	Pakistan won by 97 runs.[8]
7	Zimbabwe	Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar	3 November 1996	117 (105 balls: 10x4, 4x6)	Pakistan won by 78 runs.[9]
8	India	Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore	2 October 1997	139* (84 balls: 10x4, 9x6)	Pakistan won by 9 wickets.[10]
9	Zimbabwe	Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi	24 November 1998	132 (103 balls, 9x4, 4x6) ; DNB	Pakistan won by 111 runs.[11]
10	India	PCA IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali	1 April 1999	1 ct. ; 89* (129 balls: 5x4, 2x6)	Pakistan won by 7 wickets.[12]
11	England	Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah	7 April 1999	137 (130 balls: 12x4, 1x6)	Pakistan won by 90 runs.[13]
12	New Zealand	Kallang Ground, Kallang	20 August 2000	49 (37 balls: 5x4, 1x6)	Pakistan won by 12 runs.[14]