Imran Nazir

Born on December 16, 1981, Imran Nazir failed to live up to the lofty expectations of his nation during his start and stop international career.

An aggressive opening batsman, Nazir often used to set up fast starts for Pakistan but was also renowned for his recklessness, which many a time cost him his wicket. Nazir made his debut in March, 1999 against Sri Lanka during the Asian Cricket Championship. He impressed in his very first outing, making a stroke-filled 64 on debut. A century wasn't too far away, and he impressed his critics during a boundary laden innings of 131 against West Indies at Bridgetown, Barbados.

Nazir followed it up with another superb hundred, scoring 127 against New Zealand at Lahore. A rather modest outing against Australia in Sri Lanka and UAE convinced the selectors that they have already seen the best out of the man in Test cricket. Nazir's test career barely lasted 8 matches, and he was out in the wilderness forever.

Unlike his Test career, Nazir has had more opportunities in the shorter formats of the game, ie ODIs and T20Is. In what has been a patchy career, Imran has failed to make the most of his opportunities, as the measly average of 24.61 freom 79 ODIs suggest. He started well, scoring two fifties against South Africa at Sharjah, and followed it up with a fine century against Zimbabwe during the tri-series in the Caribbean Islands.

Inconsistency has been his forte, as the large number of failures masking few good knocks suggests. His career best score of 160, made against Zimbabwe during a dead rubber of the 2007 WC. This was also the second highest score by a Pakistani batsman and the eighth highest score by a batsman in a World Cup match.

Nazir was one amongst a host of Pakistan players to be tempted into joining the unofficial Indian Cricket League (ICL) in 2008. But in 2009, he was back in the mainstream after the Pakistan supreme court lifted the ban on the players who were part of the rebel tournament.

With time whirling away, it looks extremely difficult for Nazir to force his way back into the Pakistan team, a pity for one of the most naturally gifted batsmen of this generation.