Iftikhar Ahmed claims to be a “tailender” not an all-rounder

Pakistan cricketer Iftikhar Ahmed ignited a debate on his role in the national cricket team as he labelled himself as a “tailender” instead of an all-rounder or a middle-order batter.

Iftikhar has been a regular part of Pakistan’s white-ball teams since 2022, often dubbed as a batting all-rounder, who bats in the lower middle-order and can ball.

The right-handed batter, however, has not been able to deliver a single match-winning performance and thus often faces severe criticism from fans.

Iftikhar Ahmed’s statement came just ahead of the commencement of the Champions One-Day Cup, where he will be representing Team Wolves, led by wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan.

In a video that went viral on social media, a reporter labelled Iftikhar as a middle-order batter. Due to which the cricketer got visibly annoyed and called himself a tailender instead.

“I am not a middle order batter, I am a lower order batter. I am not an all-rounder, I am a tailender,” said Iftikhar Ahmed.

“If you see, I bat at No.7 or 8. And if you look at the all-rounders and middle order batters around the world, you’d see they bat at No.4 or 5. But I play at No.7 and 8 and I think of myself as a tailender,” he added.

For the unversed, Iftikhar Ahmed has played 55 T20I innings for Pakistan. He batted 25 times at No.5, 11 at No.7, 10 at No.6, and other stints at No.4 and No.8.

In One-Day Internationals (ODIs), Iftikhar batted at No.5 16 times out of his total 24 knocks; five at No.7, two at No.5, and one at No.4.

In his brief Test career, in which he played just six innings, he batted at five times at No.6 and only once at No.7.

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