“I had been waiting for my chance for a long time, but I never gave up,” said Ghulam, 29. “I had been waiting for my chance. That’s all I thought about. I kept getting picked and then cut from teams, and all I used to think about was how to take advantage of the opportunity I’d been given.”
That reflection has given good results. Ghulam came into the side under power when he replaced Babar Azam. The stakes were further increased by the position he reached: Pakistan were 19 for two, having lost Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique profitably when England’s spinners threatened to stage an insurrection.
“When I came to the field, we had lost two wickets. But I wanted to play with a positive mind like I do in first-class cricket. That was in the back of my mind and I wanted to play my natural game.”
And Ghulam’s homemade work is especially important. The top 12 players have scored the most runs in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy since he made his debut in 2013, including his moderate, just under 50, which puts him behind the best Fawad Alam, Saud Shakeel and Usman Salahuddin.
It was what he turned to as he negotiated a difficult opening inquiry, put away his competitive shots before lunch and laid the platform for a 149-run partnership with Saim Ayub that gradually eased England’s pressure in the game. Staying there when Ayub fell, he racked up another 65-run stand with Mohammad Rizwan, one in which he began his century with a slap to mid-on from Joe Root. During the generation in which he fell, without the strength of Shoaib Bashir to clean him up, he had scored 118 – his 17th first-class hundred.
“I have scored a lot of first-class runs,” Ghulam said. “I didn’t care about the place or the team, I just needed to make my debut. I knew I had a lot of hard work behind me and, fortunately, that work has paid off.”
He also recounted the instances in which he had debuted, paying tribute to the man he replaced in appearance. “Babar is a very good player and deep down I thought he is a legend, a very good player. But I thought I would give 110% and play with a positive mentality. I knew I had to take advantage of my opportunity.”
“And,” he says in his sensitive, comfortable voice with characteristic understatement, “when it came, I did well.”
