Fawad Alam was not ‘overwhelmed by pressure’ on return to Test cricket

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Pakistan’s middle-order batsman Fawad Alam has opened up about his return to Test cricket after more than a decade.

While speaking to Cricket Pakistan in an exclusive interview, Alam said that he was not overwhelmed by pressure despite not being able to make his mark, 21 runs in three innings, on the recently concluded England tour.

“There is always some sort of pressure whenever you step out on the field, even if it’s a club game, but it does not mean that I was completely overwhelmed by it,” said Alam. “It was unfortunate that I was not able to perform well but that’s part and parcel of the game as you can’t always go out and score runs.”

“I must say it was a great experience and playing for Pakistan once again felt more satisfying as compared to my debut match. It was a great feeling to represent my country after a gap of more than 10 years,” he added.

Despite the lack of runs, Alam is confident that he will be part of the Test side in the future as well.

“I know that my performance was not extraordinary but I’m still positive about the future,” he said. “I’m hopeful that I will be part of the team for New Zealand tour.”

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The left-hander also spoke about his unorthodox batting stance, which was a topic of discussion throughout the England series. 

“I have a very unique stance and I had never imagined that I would end up playing like this. But I was able to perform well with this stance, which is why I persisted with it,” he said. “My stance is often compared with [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul of West Indies and I even talked to him about it. He also advised me to continue with it as long as I’m able to score runs consistently. He also told me to not get bothered by what people say about it.”

He was also satisfied with the team’s performance on the England tour.

“Overall, our performance on the tour was satisfactory,” he said. “We could have won the first Test and the second T20I but small mistakes took the game away from us.”

“Bearing in mind that we had a young and inexperienced squad, we did pretty well. The experience gained by youngsters, from this tour, will help them in the future,” he added.