5 Pakistani cricketers who faded away after impressive starts

#2 Imran Farhat

Imran Farhat

The aggressive approach and elegant stroke making meant Imran Farhat had everybody’s eyes glued to him when he batted. The left-hand opening batsman was ideal for milking the powerplays in ODIs while his compact technique helped him in the longer version of the game.

After his impressive innings of 63 on his debut Test against New Zealand in 2001, Farhat stitched four consecutive hundred-run opening partnerships with Yasir Hameed in 2003 to seal the opening spot in Pakistan’s team. But his inconsistency and lapses in technique cost him his place in the side.

From his debut in 2001 till 2013, the left-hand batsman was in and out of the Pakistani team frequently due to his potential talent and also due to the lack of other reliable options. However, Salman Butt’s emergence gave Pakistani selectors an ideal replacement for Farhat and the latter never really got a look in after that.

As it became obvious that selectors had moved on, a dejected Farhat announced his retirement from international cricket in 2016 at the age of 34 years.