'Catching them young' and throwing them in at the deep end seems to be the basic premise, the guiding principle of Pakistan's cricket selectors over the last five decades. And, whatever their other failings, on this count at least they cannot be faulted. The policy, to the great bewilderment of the cricketing world, has served its purpose beyond expectations, as the precocious youngsters invariably made a name for themselves and served the nation famously in the bargain.

This trend dates back to the early `50s, when Pakistan was granted Test status in 1952 by what was then the Imperial Cricket Council. The BCCP, since renamed as PCB, in Pakistan's inaugural Test at New Delhi in that same year, included a teenaged schoolboy, Hanif Mohammad. He made a fifty on debut, and even at that tender age so absolute was his mastery over the bowling and such the sheer weight of the achievements to follow, that he was bestowed with the sobriquet of the `Little Master'.

Hanif's younger brother, Mushtaq Mohammad — a high-calibre all-rounder who went on to skipper the team with great distinction in the `70s — followed in his footsteps. For more than three decades and a half, he remained the youngest to have played top grade cricket, till Hasan Raza (14 years, 227 days) replaced him at the top. Mushtaq, however, continues to have the distinction of being the youngest century-maker in test cricket.

The two Mohammad brothers were over the years, followed by a legion of raw teenagers, most prominent among whom were Intikhab Alam, Majid Khan, Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Aaqib Javed, Saqlain Mushtaq, and Shahid Afridi. The fact that most of them, with Aaqib, Saqlain and Afridi being the only exceptions, went on to skipper the team, some for long periods and with great distinction, shows that the initial assessment of the selectors was not misplaced.

In the last three years, among others, an opener (Imran Nazir), two middle order batsmen (Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan) and an all-rounder (Abdur Razzaq) – all four of them being of undisputed class – have been inducted into the side, albeit not in this order. All four went on to make quite an impression at the international level with their brilliant performances, while their youthful exuberance and timely induction went a long way in rejuvenating a sagging squad. It indeed is reflective of the depth of available talent that a youngster of Imran Nazir's calibre, who already has a ton in both forms of the game and has received good notices from such experts as Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Chappell and Michael Holding, has been unable to find a regular slot in the side.

Anyway, how many of the four debutants at Auckland, one a teenager and two barely out of their teens, become permanent fixtures in the side remains to be seen. The initial signs, the big match temperament and the driving ambition are very much there, as is evident from Mohammad Sami taking the man of the match award in his first Test with a splendid display of sustained fast bowling. The baptism could not have been better.

Three instances: Since its inaugural Test in 1952-53 at New Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla ground, when there were nine debutants (the skipper A.H. Kardar and Amir Elahi had already represented United India), there have only been three instances of Pakistan making four fresh inductions in one go. Two of these were at home. The first was in the first Test against New Zealand at Karachi in the 1969-70 series – the debutants being Mohammad Nazir, Sadiq Mohammad, Younis Ahmed and Zaheer Abbas. The second occasion was when a revolt against the then youthful Javed Miandad's captaincy in 1982, necessitated handing out four caps in the first Test at Karachi against Sri Lanka. The debutants in that case were Saleem Malik, Saleem Yousuf, Rashid Khan and Tahir Naqqash. In the latest episode, in the first Test at Auckland, the four who got the Pakistan caps were: Faisal Iqbal, Imran Farhat, Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Sami.

The predominance in introducing cricketers at a tender age by Pakistan is such that out of the first 10 in the record books under the title `Youngest Age on Test Debut', nine are from this country, with India's Sachin Tendulkar being the sole exception. The ratio takes a considerable dip when one looks at the top 50, where only 26 are from Pakistan!

See also:

Youngsters do Pakistan proud

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