Six years ago, Aamer Jamal was a cabbie in Australia. Now he’s spearheading Pakistan’s pace attack. This is his story.
On the eve of Pakistan’s first Test against Australia, Pakistan, led by Shan Masood, named an XI that included little-known Aamer Jamal, a seamer from Mianwali. His meagre record – 76 first-class wickets at 32.57 – brought back harrowing memories of Pakistan’s 2019/20 tour down under.
Then, a similarly inexperienced attack included promising 19-year-old pacer Musa Khan, who was handed his Test debut at Adelaide. He went wicketless for 114 as Pakistan lost by an innings and 48 runs. He is yet to play another Test.
After going wicketless against the Prime Minister’s XI in Pakistan’s warm-up game earlier this week, it looked possible that Jamal was set for a similar fate.
Or not. Instead, he claimed first-innings figures of 6-111, the first six-for by a touring debutant in Australia in more than 50 years. His haul kept Australia below 500, with his stunning dismissal of Alex Carey quickly going viral.
As it turns out, succeeding against the odds comes naturally to the right-arm pacer who made his first-class debut at age 22, five years ago.
After playing for Pakistan’s U19 team in 2014, Jamal was forced to put his dream of being a professional cricket on hold as he took up a job as a taxi driver in Australia to keep his family afloat.
“I used to get online for my first shift from five until ten-thirty in the morning,” Jamal said in a candid YouTube interview with the PCB.
“This struggle instilled punctuality in me and I started to value things. When you are forced to work hard and earn things, you value them.”
Despite being away from the professional game for the best part of four years, Jamal’s love for cricket never waned. He intermittently played grade cricket in Australia, and it was during such a game that he learned of an upcoming Pakistan U23 tour, which rekindled his desire to play for the country of his birth, pushing him to return to Pakistan.
Jamal has made a habit of starring on debut. After returning home, Jamal landed a first-class and List-A contract with Pakistan TV, making his debut in the former format for them in September 2018. He immediately impressed with first-innings figures of 4-28 from 19 overs against Multan, and added another two wickets in the chase as Pakistan TV came within one wicket of victory.
Although Jamal was unable to make the U23 side that had inspired him to return to professional cricket full-time, he continued to toil for Pakistan TV, eventually being picked up by Northern in the 2020/21 season.
Another debut brought another stellar showing, this time in T20 cricket. Jamal dismissed established internationals Ahmed Shehzad, Shoaib Malik and Faheem Ashraf, being named Player of the Match as he led Northern to a victory against a strong Central Punjab side.
Success for Northern in the National T20 Cup led to an international bow against England in September last year. Again, his T20I debut was one to remember. Tasked with defending 15 in the final over with Moeen Ali on strike, Jamal bowled four dots out of six to seal a six-run win.
Jamal further heightened his credentials by taking nine wickets in six games for Peshawar Zalmi in this year’s Pakistan Super League, his first, after which he picked up his first white-ball five-wicket haul, for Pakistan’s A team against Zimbabwe.
The right-arm pacer’s ability to regularly exceed the 140kph barrier, coupled with his prowess with the bat — he has a batting average a touch above 20 in T20 and first-class cricket — led to him being named in new selector Wahab Riaz’s first Test squad.
Tasked with replacing Pakistan’s most exciting fast bowler, Naseem Shah, in the country Pakistan have their worst record in, Jamal has an arduous task on his hands, but one that he has, thus far, performed exceptionally well.
Jamal is forging an international cricket career, against all odds, just years after he spent every morning toiling away chauffeuring people in the car he bought with a bank lease to support his family.
It remains to be seen whether Pakistan can overturn their poor record in Australia on this series, with 14 consecutive defeats in the country stretching back 28 years. But in Jamal, they have found a bowler who will not be found wanting for effort and tenacity.
