“If They Will Criticise Me, I Will Criticise Them Through My Performances”: Imam-ul-Haq Takes a Dig at the Critics

Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq took a dig at the critics in a recent interview with The Cricketer. He said that if anyone criticises him, he will criticise them with his bat. He further said it is really difficult to be a Pakistani player. He shared that when people criticise Babar Azam or Yasir Shah or Mohammad Amir, it hurts him too.

“People think I should not be in Pakistan’s cricket team. They think there are many players in Pakistani cricket who are far better than me. Maybe there will be, maybe there should be – I’m not a world-class player, I’m just a normal player, to be honest,” he added.

He is one of the best players for Pakistan who is the second-fastest to reach 1000 ODI runs. However, he has been criticised and accused of nepotism most of the times, because of the former chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq who is his uncle.

“Being a nephew of Inzamam-ul-Haq, people think he influenced my selection. People forget that we are living in 2019, where the media is everywhere. I can’t be here without my performances. I would be exposed in two minutes. They don’t see that I’ve gone through the process. But they see that I’m a nephew of Inzamam and they believe that they have the right to bash me,” he further said.

Imam-ul-Haq further shared that Inzamam-ul-Haq is a legend of Pakistan and he would never take a risk of his reputation by giving a chance to someone who is not talented. He again said that people don’t think about this when he fails to perform.

“They don’t think that when I have two failures in a row, I have a hell of a lot of pressure. Other players are under pressure, but my pressure is immense. After two failures, I know that people will forget everything that I have done for Pakistan,” he told.

However, he expressed that he has changed now and he doesn’t care about the criticisms. This is because he knows criticisms will be the same as the people’s perspective would not be changed.

“I’m a different Imam-ul-Haq to what I was. Now I don’t care what people say. I know what I’m doing and what I have to do and what I have to work on. I don’t fear failure. They will come. It is cricket. How to learn from your mistakes is the most important thing,” he further revealed.

He conveyed his motive clearly that he wants to win games for Pakistan, although he said the criticisms hurt him. Even he further told he wants to “change this perspective among the people.”

“I have already proven myself many times. Two failures don’t make me a bad person or a bad player. I knew from when I was around 21 that I would have to fight for myself. That was the day I decided – if they are going to criticise me, I’m going to criticise them through my performances,” he concluded.