Saleem Elahi (

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

: سلیم الہی; born 21 November 1976) is a former Pakistani cricketer who played 13

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

and 48

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s between 1995 and 2004. He made 102 not out on his international debut, against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

in September 1995, becoming the first player from Pakistan to score a century on ODI debut. Considered a limited-overs specialist, Elahi averages 36.17 in ODIs and 52.30 in

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the num ...

. In 28 of the 48 ODIs that he had played as an opener he averaged 42, the best for a Pakistani. He had limited success in first-class cricket averaging just 32.

Personal life

Born in 1976 in

Sahiwal Sahiwal ( Punjabi / ; ; ), formerly known as Montgomery, is a city in central Punjab, Pakistan. It is the administrative capital of both Sahiwal District and Sahiwal Division. It is the 19th largest city of Pakistan by population accordin ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, Elahi has two older brothers— Manzoor Elahi and Zahoor Elahi, both of whom represented the

Pakistan cricket team The Pakistan men's national cricket team represents Pakistan in international cricket. It is controlled by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the governing body for cricket in Pakistan, which is a Full Member of the International Cricket Counc ...

Career

International career

Despite not playing

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

, Elahi was selected for the home series against Sri Lanka in 1995–96. In the first of the three-match

series played at

Gujranwala Gujranwala is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fourth most-populous city in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Located in northern-central Punjab's Rachna Doab, it serves as the headquarters of its Gujranwala District, epony ...

, he scored 102

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

off 133 balls thus becoming the first player from Pakistan to score a century on ODI debut; at age nineteen, he remains the youngest cricketer to do so as of July 2015. His

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

-winning innings helped Pakistan secure a nine-wicket victory. He scored 77 runs in the next two games, thus accumulating 179 runs in the series. He was then selected to play in the Singer Champions Trophy in

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

the same year. With continued success in both the tournaments, Elahi was picked up for the Test series against Australia in November 1995. Later, he made his

first class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

debut and played two matches against West Australia and South Australia. In two Tests, he managed to score 43 runs at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 10.75. Following that, he was intermittently selected and dropped from the side. Between his debut and 2002, Elahi played 13 Tests for Pakistan scoring 436 runs at an average of 18.95. Contrary to his success in ODIs, he managed just one half-century and six

ducks Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

, including a

pair Pair or PAIR or Pairing may refer to: Government and politics * Pair (parliamentary convention), matching of members unable to attend, so as not to change the voting margin * ''Pair'', a member of the Prussian House of Lords * ''Pair'', the Fren ...

, in Test cricket. With the exception of a series in England in 2000, where he averaged 44.40, he failed to average more than 20 in any of the series'. Towards the tail end of 2002, when Pakistan toured Zimbabwe and South Africa, he scored three centuries in four games. In one of those matches, in 2002 against South Africa, he made his highest score of 135. In the match, he shared a partnership of 257 runs with Abdul Razzaq for the second wicket to help Pakistan reach 335 runs. He was eventually selected for the 2003 World Cup. In four matches he scored 102 runs, crossing half-century once. Post World Cup, he represented Pakistan in two tournaments after which he was dropped from both the Test and ODI squads.

Career after retirement

In 2016, he was included in the squad of Sagittarius Strikers and participated in the Masters Champions League. In the same year, he toured South Africa as part of a series arranged by Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association. He has also participated in Veterans Cricket Championship. In July 2021,

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), formerly known as Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP), is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan ...

appointed him as the coach of East Zone (B) Central Punjab, representing CCA Sahiwal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:ELahi, Saleem 1976 births Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Cricketers who made a century on One Day International debut Habib Bank Limited cricketers Lahore cricketers Lahore Blues cricketers Lahore City cricketers Lahore Whites cricketers Living people Pakistani cricketers Pakistan One Day International cricketers Pakistan Test cricketers United Bank Limited cricketers Cricketers from Sahiwal Commonwealth Games competitors for Pakistan