LONDON - Pakistan fast bowler Umar Gul, whose career has been plagued with injuries, is eyeing a comeback to the national team on the back of strong performances on the domestic circuit.
Gul, who was once the spearhead of the Pakistan bowling attack, was sidelined for nine months after sustaining an ankle injury in March 2013 during the second One-Day International against South Africa in Centurion. After a series of poor performances in the Asia Cup 2013, Gul was left out of the national squad following which he sporadically played limited-overs cricket for his country.
In July 2015, Gul was ignored by the selectors for the ODI series against Sri Lanka, after he failed to comply with instructions to report for the training camp at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.
He says his knee injury has been the main reason for the dip of form, but Gul is confident of staging a comeback to the Pakistan squad after spirited performances in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy.
“I suppose when I got my knee injury in 2013 is when my form dropped but that is all behind me now,” said Gul in an exclusive interview with PakPassion.net. “I am feeling much better and have already taken 23 wickets in 5 matches in the current edition of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy. My sole aim is to make a strong comeback for Pakistan with good rhythm and some good domestic performances under my belt and I feel that I am making good progress towards that goal.”
Stress fractures have been Gul's long standing problem to such an extent that he suffered three of them just a year into his debut. However, Gul chose to see the optimistic side of it. “The issue was caused due to my bowling action. This was the reason why I got a stress fracture in 2004 which caused my absence from international cricket for more than a year. I felt that I made a strong comeback after that unfortunate injury. One can say that this injury was a blessing in disguise as it gave me some rest and I was able to train more which was beneficial for me. When I did eventually come back into international cricket, I went from a bowler who could bowl at 135Kph to someone who could hit 140-145Kph.”
Gul's most memorable performance came in the 2009 World Twenty20 where he bowled Pakistan to a historic tournament victory defeating Sri Lanka in the final. Recalling the tournament triumph, Gul, who was also the leading wicket taker in the tournament, stated that Pakistan believed they can go the distance once the knock-out stages began.
“As you will recall, we did not do that well in the group matches but once we went into the super-eights, the team started to believe in themselves and we kept on improving until we got to the knock-out stages. We obviously learnt a lot from our mistakes in the earlier stages and went on to win the trophy.”
In the semi-final against South Africa in Nottingham, Gul produced a fine display of death bowling where he conceded just 12 runs in his final two overs helping Pakistan defend 150. “Personally speaking, the over that I bowled against South Africa in the semi-final where I bowled six yorkers was the most memorable one. I was in my zone and it didn’t matter which batsman was in front of me in that over, I kept on bowling near perfect yorkers.”
The World Cup was also marred by a controversial incident when the New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori made an informal complaint to the match referee about Gul's reverse swing.
The Peshawar pacer was able to reverse swing the ball in the 12th over of the innings while ending up with figures of six for five in his three-over spell denting the New Zealand line-up.
Despite being cleared of the charges, the inquiry didn't go well with Gul. “One can only react to such allegations when some evidence of ball tampering is presented such as a video recording or proof of that nature. Without that, it’s just empty words. How was it that only I could reverse swing the same ball which was being used by other bowlers as well? The fact is that this is an art and not every bowler can do that. It is no secret and very disappointing that whenever Pakistan does well, allegations such as ball tampering are made.”
One bowler in the current bowling line of Pakistan who had modeled his action on Gul is Imran Khan. When asked about the 28-year-old, Gul said he was pleased and honoured that someone had modeled his action on him. “More than feeling strange, I must say that I am honoured by the fact that here is a fine young bowler who is following me or considers me a model for his own bowling action.”
Another debate that has been going on with the Pakistan cricket in recent times has been the return of M Aamir to domestic cricket after he served a five-year ban for spot-fixing. M Hafeez has already expressed his reluctance to share a dressing room with Amir in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League.
Gul, who wants to leave the verdict to the PCB, warned Aamir that his return to the national squad will not be an easy task. “I think it will be unfair if Aamir comes back and takes the place of a player who has been performing well. However, I don’t think Aamir can just walk in and displace a player who has done well. The selectors will not simply drop a player to make a place for Aamir. It is not that easy to walk back into the national team as apart from fitness and performance, there are other factors which may delay his return to the national squad. From what I understand there are players who are not willing to share the dressing room with him. As for my personal opinion, I will leave it to the selectors and the PCB but I will reiterate that there are a few hurdles that Amir has to clear before he can make a comeback into the national team.”
Gul has taken 419 wickets for Pakistan in 231 matches spread across all formats.