Hammad Azam
Name: Hammad Azam
Birth date: 1991-03-16
Hometown: Attock, Punjab
Teams: Pakistan, Khulna Royal Bengals, Pakistan A, National Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Under-19s, Rawalpindi Rams, Uva Next
Debut: ODI: Apr 23, 2011 | T20I: Feb 23, 2012
Allrounder Hammad Azam who hails from Rawalpindi made his First Class debut in 2008 at the age of 17. He was later inducted into Pakistan’s squad for the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2010 in New Zealand. Although Hammad began his cricketing career as an opening batsman, he was demoted to the lower lower middle order at the World Cup - and that is where he excelled.
Hammad single-handedly led Pakistan into Under-19 World Cup final by playing a brilliant inning of 92 not out under pressure against the West Indies in the semi-final. Earlier, he had played good knocks under tremendous pressure against Bangladesh and India as well. Hammad was one of the brightest stars of the tournament and earned a lot of praise for his calm and composed approach to batting during crunch situations. Hammad had the unique record of remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament until the grand finale. His only failure came in the final against Australia where he bagged a duck, getting dismissed for the first time in the tournament.
Following his good performances in the Under-19 World Cup, Hammad earned a national call-up as he was picked in Pakistan's squad for the third edition of the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies in 2010. However, Hammad could only watch the team lose the semi-final of the tournament from the sidelines as he was not picked in the playing XI for even a single match.
Hammad then earned his first ODI call-up when he was selected in Pakistan's ODI squad for the tour of the West Indies. Hammad did reasonably well with the willow in hand, scoring 36 runs against the WI in the third ODI in what was the first opportunity for him to bat - earlier, he had played the first two matches but did not get a chance to bat as Pakistan won both the matches comfortably. Hammad's bowling on the tour was not highly effective and he seemed to have become somewhat slower than what he was during his Under-19 days.
Hammad was a part of Pakistan's Asia Cup winning squad in 2012, where he hit a famous boundary in the match against Sri Lanka to earn his team a bonus point. In the final against Bangladesh, Hammad came in to bat at number 6 with Pakistan having been reduced to 70 for 4 in 21.2 overs. He played a crucial knock, scoring 30 off 37 deliveries and putting up a 59-run partnership with Umar Akmal. However, this performance was not enough for him to impress the selectors and to convice them to persist with him - the Asia Cup final proved to be Hammad's last international appearance till date.