Pakistan’s legendary former batsman Inzamamul Haq, in a YouTube video on Thursday, revealed that batting great Javed Miandad was ready to play for Pakistan, while coaching the national side during a series in New Zealand.

The 50-year-old recalled the incident during which Pakistan did not have enough batsmen and Miandad was ready to step up to help the national side.

“He had never shied away from batting at any age. Even if someone asks him to bat today, he will say yes. He was the coach and I was the captain during a series against New Zealand and some of our players got injured. New Zealand is far, so getting a fast replacement was very hard. When I came out of the nets and was in the dressing room, he [Miandad] came to me and said ‘a batsman is absolutely ready to play if you don’t have enough batsmen’. I asked who it was, and he replied 'me'. I said ‘Javed bhai you have seen the conditions of the pitch and it has been so long since you played’. He said don’t worry about me I will play. I said ‘if you want to play then you will have to bat in the nets first’ and before I could take off my gear he was ready to bat. He had this phenomenal confidence in his batting,” Inzamam said.

ALSO READ: Kapil Dev dismisses Shoaib Akhtar’s Indo-Pak series suggestion

Inzamam also called Miandad the greatest batsman Pakistan had ever produced, while heaping praise on his cricketing credentials. 

“I am going to talk about a player who was the hero of all batsmen when I was playing cricket. I am taking about Javed Miandad. He was the best player Pakistan ever produced at least in terms of batting. I have played with him for four to five years as a player and then also as a coach. He had a strong belief in himself which made him so great,” he said.

The former batsman also revealed that Miandad was fearless from the start which helped him achieve the level of success that he did in the world of cricket.

“I once talked to Mushtaq Mohammad, he told me when they went to Australia when Miandad was a youngster, where batsmen feared going on top of the order Miandad was always eager to go out to bat and had a fearless approach. He would sledge the best bowlers in the world. Usually, bowlers sledged to get batsmen off their rhythm but Miandad turned it around. He was a big match player and rose to every occasion. He didn’t let players know how hard the situation is while playing a calculated knock,” he said.

Inzamam also claimed that Miandad gave the best insight regarding how to bat, which included more emphasis on scoring runs rather than technique. 

“I have played cricket around the world and I think Javed bhai explained the art of batting the best. He was never interested in the technique like all the others. He was focused on teaching batsmen how to score. This was his coaching. All great batsmen in the world have been more concerned about scoring then techniques,” he concluded.