I'd like to extend a huge thanks to both Saj and Yasir Ali for helping us get this interview with Yasir Hameed. And of course an even bigger thank you to Hameed for a great interview.Hameed was a pleasure to interview, he doesnt take himself too seriously and is always ready with a quip or a joke. He was also very honest about his own game and clearly knows what areas he's weak at and what he needs to do to work on themSo here's the interview, hope you enjoy it...
PakPassion.Net: What got you into cricket professionally?Yasir Hameed: (Begins with Bismillah) I'm sure you're aware that Pakistanis are crazy for cricket and I too came from a cricket mad family. I used to play cricket with my brothers and uncles every day, we used to play together all the time. Once I'd been playing for a short while people began telling me that I had some quality shots and that my batting had the potential to get me into cricket as a profession. So I agreed to try my luck and see if I could make a career out of playing a sport that I love.PakPassion.Net: Is there anyone from your friends or family who was already a cricketer?Yasir Hameed: No. I'm the first one from my circle to play cricket professionally and at the highest level.PakPassion.Net: Who were your favourite cricketers when you were growing up?Yasir Hameed: The entire World Cup winning team of 1992, their win was my inspiration to become a cricketer. From non-Pakistani players I've always been a big fan of Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, as batsmen they're both a class apart from the rest of the field. Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge were great players before that. PakPassion.Net: When did you start taking cricket seriously?Yasir Hameed: When i was selected for Peshawar u16 and began playing for Peshawar u16 division, that's when I realised that if I worked hard I had a real chance to make a career out of cricket.PakPassion.Net: You dont have a Peshawari twang in your accent, did you grow up there?Yasir Hameed: It's a good question. Although I grew up in Peshawar I'm actually from Abbottabad.PakPassion.Net: You debuted in your mid-20s which is quite old by Pakistani cricket standards, why such a late debut?Yasir Hameed: Because my cricket age is also my real age .PakPassion.Net: (laughs)Yasir Hameed: (laughs) After playing junior cricket, I had a couple of poor seasons at domestic level where my performances weren't consistent. After that I had 3 years where I batted consistently and solidly in domestic cricket and I got selected on the basis of those performances. I'm glad I got the chance to play for Pakistan and it doesn't matter to me that it was in my mid-20s. I look to players like Zaheer Abbas who also debuted in his mid-20s and went on to forge a successful international career, I'm not as good as he was but his case is an inspiration to me.PakPassion.Net: You began your career with a dream debut, scoring centuries in each innings, did this end up with people placing unrealistic expectations on your shoulders?Yasir Hameed: You're right. People begin thinking if someone has scored a century in his first two innings then he should score another one in the 3rd, 4th, 5th innings and then in every innings after that. I'm grateful to Allah(swt) that I got a century in each innings on my debut but I agree with you that it does end up creating an unrealistic expectation. To be truthful I'm very disappointed in my performance in International cricket so far, I've missed out on 12 international centuries. I feel that if a player gets far enough past 50 runs in an innings then it's a crime for him not to convert that score into a century, if you're in good enough form to score 50 runs then you owe it to your team and to yourself to make your form count and get a really big score.PakPassion.Net: Very well put, a batsman's job isn't completed once he's passed 50. As you say he should make his good form count.Yasir Hameed: Dua karo (pray for me) that if I'm reselected that this time around I'm able to maintain my focus and concentration, I'm determined to make big scores nowadays.PakPassion.Net: Do you also keep wicket?Yasir Hameed: No I dont. A few people have told me that I have a natural talent for keeping wickets and that I should become a keeper but wicket keeping is a specialist job and you can't do justice to it unless you dedicate all your time to it. I want to be picked as a batsman and I'd rather spend my time concentrating on improving my batting than distract myself with trying to learn wicket keeping at my age.PakPassion.Net: Is it true that you were put under pressure to become a keeper shortly after your debut?Yasir Hameed: No nothing like that.PakPassion.Net: It's just we read a few newspaper reports about how you were going to take up the gloves for Pakistan, what was behind that?Yasir Hameed: That's news to me. Perhaps they were trying to put pressure on Kamran Akmal or something along those lines?PakPassion.Net: Do you prefer playing Test cricket or ODI cricket?Yasir Hameed: I can't choose between the two, I'm a cricketer and I just love playing any form of cricket. It's like you asking me if a Suraj Mukhi flower is more beautiful than a rose, both flowers are beautiful in different ways and in the same way I love both Test and ODI cricket.PakPassion.Net: Who's fitter out of you and Gul, you're both known to have 8 packs and to be in top physical shape.Yasir Hameed: You can't compare our fitness because we're totally different players. I'm a batsman and he's a fast bowler, we use entirely different muscles to do our jobs. Gul has to be fitter than me because he's a fast bowler and a fast bowlers number one priority should be his fitness. I'm lucky and I thank God that I've never had a serious injury, I dont envy Gul all the strains and niggles that he's been through. He's a really dedicated cricketer and works unbelievably hard on his physical conditioning.PakPassion.Net: What're your favourite innings in both Test and ODI cricket?Yasir Hameed: Without a doubt in Tests it's my centuries in each innings on my debut, in ODIs it's the 98 I scored against India in Peshawar to win the MOTM award and the 300 I recently scored in domestic cricket is my favourite ever innings.PakPassion.Net: You've always had an issue with your offstump, it's your biggest weakness in batting. Is this something you struggle with in domestic cricket as well or is it something that has only crept into your International game?Yasir Hameed: (laughs) How do I answer that? Actually I agree with you, it's been my most common mode of dismissal in my career so far. However I'd like to say that if I get another chance then with time you'll forget I ever had an offstump weakness, I'm quite confident that I've exorcised those demons and it wont be a problem for me again. I've been aware of it and working really hard on it. If you take a look at this seasons domestic performance you'll see that I've been in good form and I have been scoring some big runs, I'm confident that I've beaten it now.PakPassion.Net: What specific work have you done on this weakness?Yasir Hameed: I've been working on my shot selection and have gone back to basics, I had a habit of chasing the ball outside the offstump even if it was swinging. I've even scored lots of runs by doing that but in the long run it gets you into a bad habit and once you develop a bad habit in cricket it's hard to shake off...PakPassion.Net: (interrupts) ...what I've observed whilst watching you is that (as you've said) you arent afraid to attack the swinging ball, even if it's outside the offstump. I think your main problem is that you weren't backing yourself fully to pull off an attacking shot after committing yourself to playing it, you would go in intending to hit the ball and pull out at the last minute. I personally feel that if you had just completed the shot you intended to play then most of the time you would've been ok instead of getting out. I think if you commit yourself to a shot then you should play it anyway because it's less risky than pulling out at the last minute, that sort of aggressive attitude is what makes Jayasuriya and Sehwag so good. It's the indecisiveness which gets you out more than anything else.Yasir Hameed: Exactly, you've got it spot on. This isn't just a problem for me but for every batsman, it's indecision and being in two minds about what to do that eats away at a batsman's confidence. We batsmen often get out poking at a ball which we could have hit for a boundary had we completed the shot instead of pulling out at the last minute. We should back our initial instincts more often.
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