LAHORE: Former Pakistan opener Taufiq Umar turned 40 on Sunday (June 20). Born on 20th June 1981 in Lahore, Taufeeq, a left-hand opener, first made his mark in the Lombard World Under-15 Challenge in England in 1996. He made 87 against England in the semi-final, and in the final, which Pakistan lost to India, he opened with Hasan Raza, who was to play Test cricket shortly afterwards. A front-foot player who drives well, Taufeeq is nonetheless a good cutter. He can also bowl some handy offspin. Taufeeq could not have asked for an easier initiation into international cricket –– he played his first Test against Bangladesh in 2001, and scored a century on his Test debut, and then impressed with half-centuries against Australia and West Indies, and a hundred against South Africa in Cape Town in an innings in which the rest of the team contributed 117 in 2003.
On those bouncy pitches, Taufeeq had ample time to play the seamers. He did not get much opportunity in the World Cup, but showed himself to be an absolute asset in Pakistan’s home series against South Africa, scoring a hundred and three fifties in four innings. But he then entered a prolonged run of poor form, which included disappointing home and away series against India, and with Pakistan chopping and changing their openers frequently, his appearances became less frequent. Returning to the national team in 2010-11, after a four-year absence, Umar struck a richer vein. He hit a match-winning hundred against West Indies in St Kitts in May 2011 and a career-best 236 against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi that October, thus becoming only the seventh Pakistan opener ––- and the first since 1992 ––– to score a Test double-century. Injury ended his solid run in mid-2012 and he played just one more Test thereafter. In all, Taufeeq played 44 Tests and 22 ODIs for Pakistan, scoring 2963 and 504 runs, respectively.