Fawad Alam was born on October 8, 1985 in Karachi District, Pakistan. He is a left-handed batsman and a left-arm slow orthodox bowler who plays for the Pakistan national team, the National Bank of Pakistan and the Karachi Blues.

Early Life and Family

Fawad comes from a cricket family and was born to Pakistani world-class cricketer Tariq Alam. His paternal uncle Rafat Alam and maternal uncle Waheed Mirza played first-class cricket for Pakistan. He is also a cousin of England Test cricketer Usman Afzaal.

In November 2011, Fawad married the daughter of former Pakistan Test cricketer Mansoor Akhtar in Karachi.

Cricket Career

Fawad made his List A debut against Khan Research Labs on December 21, 2003, playing for Pakistan Customs. His top-flight career came the next day against the same team in Karachi. Fawad played well and was included in the squad for the 2006 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, which the Pakistan team won.

Following Pakistan's disappointing World Cup season, Fawad was drafted into a 16-man squad for a One Day International (ODI) series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi. In the debut he ran for a first ballente. His second ODI was a better experience as he contributed 32 runs unbeaten in sequence as Pakistan beat India by 31 runs in Jaipur.

Between those two games, Fawad traveled to South Africa as part of the Pakistan squad for the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 tournament. He played in the semi-finals and took two wickets against New Zealand as Pakistan advanced to the final, for which he was not selected. He scored his first half-century of international cap against Hong Kong in June 2008 at the Asian Cup. He was subsequently axed for the Sri Lanka series in January 2009.

In October 2008, Fawad was selected for the quadrangular Twenty20 International tournament to be played in Canada between Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and host Canada. In the fourth game of the tournament, he hit 23 not outs from just eight balls with three sixes and took a wicket. In the next game against Zimbabwe, he took three wickets for seven runs from 3 overs.

Fawad was chosen to tour England in 2010. He played club cricket in England to get used to the conditions. Fawad scored well in the first two games but his big break came in the third ODI when he increased his best score to 64. He retained his place for the ODI series against South Africa in the United Arab Emirates. After scoring 123 runs in the five-match streak, he was subsequently dropped from the ODI team and lost his spot on the T20 team after the tour to New Zealand later that year.

Asia Cup 2014

In 2017, Fawad signed as a professional for Clitheroe Cricket Club in the Lancashire League. In April 2018 he was named vice-captain of Sindh's squad for the 2018 Pakistan Cup. In March 2019, he was named in Balochistan's squad for the 2019 Pakistan Cup.

In September 2019, Fawad was named to Sindh's squad for the 2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament.

Test Career

Fawad Alam, a stylish left-handed Pakistani batsman, made his Test debut on July 12, 2009 against Sri Lanka. Fawad Alam played his first Test match, batting 168 runs in the second innings and becoming the first Pakistani cricketer in a century to score on his debut away from home. During that remarkable knock, he posted a record 200 partnerships with Younus Khan against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, breaking the previous best record of 151.

After a heroic performance on the debut, Alam had an opportunity to take part in the remaining two games of the series, but the southpaw failed to produce a similar performance. After this series, he was dropped from the Pakistan Test national team for a very long time. However, he continued to play first-class cricket and scored many runs.

His achievements in top-flight cricket over the years saw him considered by the Pakistan Cricket Board for a series against England and he was included in the 20-man squad for the Pakistan tour of England in July 2020. He later got a great opportunity to play in the second game of a three-match streak, which was his first Test appearance after a 10-year gap.

However, he failed to do much in his comeback game, going from just 4 balls to a duck in his innings. However, in the final game of the series, which happened to be his very last Test, he showed character, scoring 21 runs from 74 balls against a fatal English bowling attack. Remarkably, he also picked two crucial wickets in that game. Overall, Fawad Alam scored 271 runs from 5 friendlies with an average of 33.88. 168 runs against Sri Lanka on his debut is his best test result to date. You get the feeling that he underperformed given the talent that Fawad Alam has displayed over the years.

ODI Career

Fawad Alam had a great start to his cricket career but failed to seize his chances with both hands and as a result was not consistently a member of the ODI Pakistan national team. Fawad Alam made his ODI debut on May 22, 2007 against Sri Lanka. Unlike his majestic Test debut, Fawad Alam was out for a first-ball duck in his debut game.
In 2010, Fawad Alam played 13 ODI games, scoring 393 goals with an average of 35 and batting average of 74.

Despite such good performances, PCB kept him out of ODI squad for almost 4 years. In 2014 he was again accepted to participate in the Asian Cup. He hit 74 runs in his comeback game and didn't hit his career-best 114 in the final against Sri Lanka. In his comeback year 2015, Fawad Alam scored 345 runs from 8 games with an average of 69. Fawad Alam played his last ODI game against Bangladesh on 22 August 2015. In total, Fawad Alam played 38 ODI games while averaging 966 runs of 40.25, which spans 6 fifties and a century.

T20I Career

After an outstanding 2006-2007 season, Fawad Alam was called up to the Pakistan T20 national team. Fawad made his T20I debut against Kenya on September 4, 2007 in the ICC World T20 tournament. He picked two crucial wickets in the semifinals against the Kiwis but was not included in the 2007 T20 World Cup Finals squad.

Later, in October 2018, he was included in the T20 squad for the Three Nations Tournament between Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. In the same series, when he played Zimbabwe, he took three wickets for just seven runs from 3 overs, his finest T20I bowling magic. He later did not have much success playing T20Is and hence the Pakistan Cricket Board did not consider him for the T20I format. Fawad Alam hit 194 runs from 17 T20I innings with an average of 17.64 and a batting average of 115. He played his last T20I on December 26, 2010 against New Zealand.

Rise to Glory

Fawad's biggest breakthrough came in the 2006/07 season, where he excelled in all formats. His achievements at the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy earned him various awards including Man of the Final, Man of the Series, Best Batsman and Best Bowler.

Alam failed to impress in his international debuts and was dropped from the national team for three and a half years. After his hiatus, Fawad was selected for the September-October 2008 Pakistan Academy tour of Africa. He scored 302 straight points in a four-day game against Kenya and was the top run-getter.

Fawad was called up to the national team at the 2014 Asian Cup in Bangladesh. In his first game against the hosts, he hit a 74 ball 70 to pursue a 326 goal. His form continued as he achieved his first ODI century, hitting 114* in the final against Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, his team lost the game and finished second in the tournament.