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| Hanif Mohammad 1934-2016 |
Hanif Mohammad, the original 'Little Master' who played the longest
innings in Test cricket, has died at the age of 81. He had been undergoing
treatment for respiratory complications from his lung cancer in Karachi's Aga
Khan hospital. Late on August 8, he was shifted to the ICU and placed on a
ventilator. Hanif was diagnosed with the cancer in 2013, for which he received
treatment in London.
Hanif played 55 Tests, including
Pakistan's first. Imtiaz Ahmed, 88, and Waqar Hasan, 83, are the only two survivors from that team.
Hanif was renowned for his immaculate defensive technique. He scored 3915 runs
at an average of 43.98. His best was an epic 337 as
Pakistan saved the Barbados Test in 1958 while following on. It was the highest
Test score and the longest first-class innings then. At 970 minutes, it is
still the longest
Test innings.
Hanif was born in Junagadh in the
Indian state of Gujarat. He and his four brothers moved to Pakistan after
partition; four of the five brothers played Tests while Raees, the fifth, was a
12th man once. At least one of the Mohammad brothers played in Pakistan's first
101 Tests. Hanif's son Shoaib played 45 Tests and grandson Shehzar 30
first-class matches. In 2010, a Cricinfo jury chose Hanif as the opener
alongside Saeed Anwar in the all-time Pakistan Test XI.
After retiring as an international
cricketer, Hanif co-founded the magazine The Cricketer Pakistan in 1972, which he edited for two
decades. He also served as the manager of the formidable Pakistan International
Airlines (PIA) team, which one the domestic one-day tournament, Wills Cup,
three years in a row in the 1980s.
ICC's chief executive David
Richardson paid tribute to Hanif, pointing to the impact that his
triple-century against West Indies had. "It's sad to hear of Hanif's death
and I'd like to extend my condolences and those of everyone here at the ICC to
Hanif's family, which counts so many cricketers in its number," Richardson
said in a press statement. "Hanif took batting to great heights and many
batsmen drew inspiration from him.
"His contribution to the game
has been enormous and one can only imagine the kind of impact his batting had
on others over the years. Hanif's triple-century against the West Indies was a
legendary innings and unsurprisingly he was one of the original inductees into
the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame."
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