Pakistan opener Imamul Haq, while talking to Deep Dasgupta on ESPNCricinfo, has opened up on facing nepotism accusations, which led to severe trolling by a group of fans, before his One-day International (ODI) debut.
Imam, who is the nephew of former Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq, was included in the national side when the latter was working as the chief selector.
“When all of this started happening, I would have my meals all alone,” Imam was quoted as saying by Wisden. “It was my first tour and you know how it can get on the first tour. And whenever I would open my phone, there were people tagging me on social media posts or sending me stuff. I was very disheartened and couldn’t understand anything.”
The left-hander also revealed that he cried for hours in the shower, even before he had played for Pakistan because he very low on confidence.
“I remember crying in the shower for hours that I haven’t even played yet [he played the third ODI of the series in Abu Dhabi],” he said. “It’s very easy for young players to get surrounded by self-doubt. The only thing running constantly in my mind was that I haven’t even played [for the national team] yet, what if I play and don’t perform well? Then my career will be over. I wouldn’t step a foot out of my room, fearing people might trouble me outside, because there is a large Pakistan community in Dubai.”
“So I didn’t play the first two matches of the series, Ahmed Shehzad played in them but he couldn’t perform [well]. In the team meeting after the second match, Mickey Arthur announced a 14-strong team for the next match, and I was included in that. And he said that you will be informed if you will be playing the night before [the match],” he added.
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Thankfully for Imam, he was able to silence his critics with a century on debut against Sri Lanka.
“We were living in Dubai, and from there we had to travel to Abu Dhabi on the match-day, which is a two-hour drive. So we had to leave around 11am-12pm for the match and I got his [Arthur’s] message at around 9.30am, which I still remember, ‘Immy, it’s your time, be ready and good luck.’” he said.