10 promising Pakistani cricketers who failed to live up to their potential

Yasir Hameed:

Despite scoring two hundreds in his very first Test, Yasir failed to deliver on the long run

This is the unfortunate story of probably the ‘biggest casualty’ to Pakistan cricket.

He was young, reeking with talent, a different kettle of fish altogether. He slammed back-to-back tons in his first two innings of his first Test match, but soon developed a tendency of gifting his wicket away after getting decent starts.

He was young, and it appears that more communication with the youngster by seniors was required and persisting with him then would have produced dividends today. It was a classic case of ‘talent going astray’.

Imran Farhat:

Imran Farhat showed a lot of promise initially

Like Salman Butt, it was felt that Imran Farhat was the answer to Pakistan’s opening woes. He showed immense spark early on, instilling faith among his fans. Calm in his approach, Imran was a marvelous timer of the ball. Like most sub-continental batsman, he maintained good balance against spinners.

But today, he is not even in contention of being selected anytime soon. It’s not that his chances of getting selected is ruled out forever, but he has not been in the reckoning for quite sometime now. Here again, the management of the team should be blamed for not showing faith in his ability and trusting him.

Taufeeq Umar:

Taufeeq Umar – Another talented opener who failed to impress

Another name that comes to one’s mind is Taufiq Umar. A batsman who showed promise, who had oodles of talent –but circumstances led him to fizzle away sooner than later. He opened alongside the legendary Anwar in the 2003 World Cup when he was just 21 years old.

But, he too like the other opening batsmen, failed to cash in on the slot that was up for grabs.

Danish Kaneria:

Kaneria was Pakistan’s lead spinner for a while

The good old classical leg-spinner, always reminded you of Mushtaq Ahmed, with his exaggerated jump. Kaneria had promised a lot early on, taking scores of wickets. It seemed he had a successful career in the waiting and everything was hunky-dory. That is when all-hell broke loose and he like many other former Pakistani cricketers got in the betting racket. He is currently serving a life ban.