Abdul Hafeez Kardar - Hero Worship
On November 8, the seemingly indomitable South Africans lifted the Golden Jubilee trophy by comfortably beating Sri Lanka at 'Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium, the venue of the letter's most memorable triumph in cricket.
| Hanif Mohammad - His Defence was Impenetrable |
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Hanif hit 55 first class centuries, which include 12 Test centuries in a career from 1952-53 to 1971-72. His innings of 337 runs, the longest ever Test innings, is Pakistan's pride. But its significance is not generally realised. Of the 15 triple Test cen¬turies scored in the 122 year history of Test cricket since March, 1877, it is the only one to have been achieved by a batsman whose team was following on. Thus, it is one of its kind. The West Indies, playing at Bridgetown, declared at 579 for 9, skittled Pakistan out for 106, and enforced the follow-on. Pakistan had to wipe off the deficit and, more important, play out the remaining three and a half days in the six-day Test if they wanted to avoid defeat. With Hanifs unrivalled rearguard action, Pakistan did both. His share, 337 runs was 51 per cent of 657 runs, the team total. Hanifs partnerships in this innings, too, are unsurpassed in three ways: one, sharing over a hundred runs each with four team mates; two, these being consecutive, and three, they relate to the first four wickets. Except him, no batsman has made more than half of his team's score when it exceeded 650 runs. Armed with this analysis of his immortal innings, this writer went to interview this great player. He is not given to demonstrating emotion. Perhaps inside he is steel, which wouldn't be surprising, considering the opposition he has faced on the field. Hanif owes his 499 (now Pakistan's highest record) to his guardian angel.
Hanif regrets not playing against South Africa. "They were a strong team. But he did play with and against some of them as a member of the Rest of the World Eleven in the mid-sixties. He recalls Shaun Pollock's uncle and father Graeme Pollock and Peter Pollock. Hanif has played with and against, watched and admired many players. Among the all-rounders he mentions Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee and lan Botham, but places Gary Sobers above all. "Sobers was five in one: a superb batsman, a medium pace bowler, a slow spinner, an excellent close-in fielder and a dynamic captain." The bowler Hanif found difficult to play was Subhash Gupte, the Indian leg-spinner. "His flippers came in whistling much faster than his ordinary deliveries. He could confuse batsmen." Another Indian, Desai, "got me four times in one series". Roy Gilchrist of the West Indies "was menacing with his scorchers". Vinoo Mankad, the finest Indian all-rounder before Kapil Dev, "single-handedly won the first 1952 Delhi Test against us with his unplayable — 13 for 131 — slow left arm bowling." Sunil Gavaskar, a compact, neat and balanced batsman scored 20 tons in his first 50 Tests' Kapil Dev, independent India's fastest bowler to date, and explosive batsman, was a capable leader. Azharuddin is a daring cricketer attacking batsman, and a hugely successful captain. He scored three consecutive centuries upon debut, a feat never achieved before. "Tendulkar will break Gavaskar's record of 34 Test centuries", predicts Hanif. "He is technically sound." Htnif places Lala Amarnath higher than all Indian captains, "He was shrewd, tactical and had an aura that lifted his team." As for ours, "Kardar was the best captain. He knew how to control, manage and motivate his players; he was shrewd, perceptive, and could appraise the comparative worth of his own and the opposite team." After several ineffective captains, came Mushtaq. He could assess the game at all stages, decided boldly, and led by example. Javed Miandad was an excellent batsman, showed an intuitive understanding of the game, was competitive in the field, but called it a day somewhat early. Imran, of course, was a superb all-rounder, Pakistan's best, and a most effective captain, lead-ing from the front." Richie Benaud was a master tactician and a fine all-rounder. Others that Hanif admires are Mike Brearley, Bobby Simpson, Allan Border and Mark Taylor. "Pakistan has produced many outstanding performers," says Hanif. Nazar Muhammed was attractive and bold. "He kept encouraging me, then only a school boy, in 1952 in India." Waqar Hasan was Pakistan's most stylish batsman and Aleemuddin was a decent human being, apart from being a fine opener." Zaheer Abbas, Hanif'says, was a run machine. He played some memorable innings, especially his first double hundred, 274, in England. Asif Iqbal was one of Pakistan's first all-rounders. He earned the title of 'the man of crisis' because he could take charge of any situation. A delightful batsman, a useful swing bowler, an electrifying fielder, a superb runner between the wickets. Little Master rates Wasim Bari as one of the world's best wicketkeepers. Abdul Qadir has been the best spinner of the era, said Hanif. He bowled leg spin, flippers and googlies in a swift movement. Unluckily, he was sidelined in his prime. According to Hanif, Salim Malik is technically the most correct Pakistani batsman. "He has perfect timing." Wasim and Waqar remind Hanif of Lillee and Thomson bowling in tandem.
Hanif regrets the injustice done to him and his son. It is common knowledge that he was told to resign or else... "But was Shoaib's career blocked because he was my son? Did politics or professional jealousy have to become dynastic? Shoaib's batting averages have been better than all us Mohammed brothers," he says. Hanif claims that being short-statured has its own advantages; one can hook, pull or play the ball square with greater ease. "But taller players such as Zaheer Abbas can drive more fluently, though they need to duck more often then the shorter guys to avoid vicious bouncers." Left-handed batsman affect the line and length of bowlers, But with more and more left-handed players coming up, perhaps things are levelling out. 
 Set 1/2       In Hanif's heyday, batsmen had no head gear, or chest and elbow protection. "We relied on our bat," he says. One can only guess how Hanif might have done in one-day internationals. Could he have found the going difficult in limited over matches? But expert opinion has it that he had shots to match each ball. And he never ducked bouncers. In England, during his Captain's innings of 187, which he thinks is the best he ever played, Brian Statham tried to intimidate him, and saw both of his bouncers immediately hooked for sixes.
Finally, Hanif asserts that he batted for 999 minutes at Bridgetown for 337 runs, Wisden (970 minutes) notwithstanding. Hanif has the gramophone record from the local broadcasting company of the radio commentator's words to prove it.
Major teams Pakistan, Bahawalpur, Karachi, Pakistan International Airlines Batting style Right-hand bat Bowling style Right-arm offbreak Fielding position Wicketkeeper Batting and fielding averages
Bowling averages
by Sikandar Sarwar
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Towards the end of last year, Hanif Mohammed, Pakistan Test cricket's sheet anchor of the fifties and sixties, published his autobiography Playing for Pakistan.