Fawad Alam is Back!

 It has been a while. 

A while since I last wrote, a while for Fawad Alam being out of the Pakistan team, a while since Pakistan won a Test match against a top side.

That while is over. 

Fawad Alam is back. Pakistan have just beaten South Africa in a test match, and I am writing again!

It is no secret that I am a huge supported of Fawad Alam. Anyone who has followed Well Pitched over the years would have read my calls for Fawad to be a part of Pakistan’s international set up. You can go down memory lane here.

It took Fawad Alam 10 years and 9 months to play another test match for Pakistan since his last one in November 2009 in Dunedin, New Zealand.

For someone who scored a mammoth ton – 168 – on test debut to be dropped after just two more test appearances was injustice of the highest order.

No one really knows why he was dropped, nor why he was kept on the sidelines for over a decade.

A decade where he was among the top scorers in domestic cricket year after year.

His first class average of 56.4 is the highest in Pakistan. Highest ever in the 73-year history of Pakistan mind you. 

Yet he remained ignored by all selectors.

His comeback in England last summer was not ideal. Dismissed for a duck in his first test innings for almost 11 years!

He scored 21 in the next test in England and then must have wondered if he will ever don the whites again for Pakistan.

But he did.

He flew to New Zealand with the team and in the first test almost saved the match for Pakistan with a fighting century.

A test hundred in the same land were he played his last test knock and failed in 2009.

That knock of 102 is a redemption story for the ages.

Fawad Alam was back!

He ended the tour as the only batsman from Pakistan to score a test hundred.

Sure he did not end up saving the test for Pakistan, but that is no reason why we should not celebrate that knock.

As always, for the harshest critics it is never enough.

So let us turn our attention to a month later in Karachi. Fawad Alam’s homeground.

Having dismissed South Africa for 220, Pakistan were reeling at 27-4 when Fawad Alam walked to the crease near the end of the first day.

He first steered Pakistan out of trouble by forging a 94 run partnership with Azhar Ali.

Then he helped Pakistan inch closer towards South Africa’s total with a 55 run partnership with captain Mohammad Rizwan.

And then he ensured Pakistan not only gets there but also builds its lead over South Africa, with a 102 run partnership with Faheem Ashraf.

Fawad knocked his third test century in the process in only his 8th test match.

On a pitch where all the South African batsmen and most of Pakistan’s batsmen struggled, Fawad Alam marched on as the only centurion of the test.

That 10 year wait has been worth it. For Fawad, as well as, for all his supporters.

He still has a lot of cricket and lot of test centuries left in him, which we will get to see as long as he isn’t brushed aside due to politics again.