Legendary Heroes of Pakistan Cricket

Pakistan Cricket has always figured out prominently at the world scene since Pakistan made headlines at Oval Test in 1954s, when Pakistan team was in its formatting stage. Fazal Mahmood, Imtiaz Alam and Kardar figured out prominently during unforgettable Oval Test, in which Pakistan beat England. Fazal Mahmood bagged 12 wickets for 99 and became an instant hero. Pakistan won the fourth Test by 24 runs after losing the second at Trent Bridge to square the series 1-1 and breaking the tradition since no country had ever before won a Test in their first rubber in England.

1st row L-R:  Fazal Mahmood, Kardar

2nd row L-R: Mushtaq and Hamnif Muhammad

3rd row L-R: Zaheer Abbas, Rameez Raja

4th row L-R: Imran Khan

5th row L-R: Wasim Akram, Javed Miandad

4th row L-R: Inzamam, Yousaf

4th row L-R: Muhammad Younis

4th row L-R: Shahid Afridi, Saeed Anwar

Of the players photographed above, Hanif Muhammad, Imran Khan and Javed Miandad are also listed in the ICC Hall of Fame.

The famous Muhammad brothers, that included Hanif Muhammad, Mushtaq Muhammad and Sadiq Muhammad contributed tremendously to the progress of cricket in Pakistan. Hanif Muhammad scored 337 runs in 970 minutes - a world record for maximum length of time on the crease, while playing West Indies. Hanif Muhammad, also known as the Little Master, also became famous for his 499s in the first class cricket, a record that remain unbroken for quite a long time.

Zaheer Abbas regarded is widely known as the "Asian Bradman", a reference to former Australian great Sir Donald Bradman. He is among few professional cricketers who used to wear spectacles. Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian Test captain, once said while commentating that the Indian players would often say to Zaheer, "Zaheer Ab-bas karo", which means "Zaheer, stop it now" in Urdu and Hindi, referring to Abbas' free scoring. He remains second on the list of all-time ICC ODI batting rankings.

Imran Khan is considered to be a true legend in Pakistan's cricket as he made headlines both as a cricketer and as a tall lanky handsome personality. He first hit the headlines during the Sydney Test in 76-77 where he took 6/102 and 6/63 in the 2 innings and bowled Pakistan to a famous away victory, their first win on Australian soil. It was under his captaincy that Pakistan won the famous 1992 world cup cricket. To Imran goes the credit for nurturing bowlers like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. 

Javed Miandad's master stroked 6 at Sharjah will be remembered in the history of cricket for ever. Just when Pakistan needed 4 runs with last ball in hand, Miandad rose to the occasion and hit the shot to win last ball victory over India in the finals. Starting with a century on debut against New Zealand at Lahore at age 19, Javed`s Test batting average never dropped below fifty throughout his 20 year career with 8832 Test runs at 52.57.

Wasim Akram is rightly acknowledged as the best left arm fast bowler ever. His pin point control of line and length and seam position provided complete control over both out swing and in swing. He is also credited with being the first to master reverse swing. With a very deceptive all-concealing action, Wasim was gifted with a very effective bouncer and an equally impressive Yorker. Wasim was instrumental in Pakistan's famous World Cup victory in 1992 in Australia. He became the first bowler to take two Hat-tricks (1989 and 1990, both at Sharjah) and only the fourth bowler to take 400+ wickets. In his 104 Test appearances he claimed 414 wickets and surpassed the 500-wicket landmark in ODIs in the last World Cup.

Inzamam-ul-Haq also known as Inzy, has been a leading batsman and the captain of the Pakistan national cricket team from 2003 to 2007. He is the second-highest run scorer for Pakistan in Test cricket, after Javed Miandad. Inzamam rose to fame in the semi-final of the 1992 Cricket World Cup, in which he scored 60 off 37 balls against a strong New Zealand team.His strong batting performance also propelled Pakistan to victory in the final of the 1992 Cricket World Cup.

Shahid Afridi or the Boom Boom afridi, is perhaps the most liked and loved cricketer of Pakistan in the present times. Shahid has played  27 Tests, 325 One Day Internationals, and 43 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) for the Pakistan between 1996 and 2011. He is known for his aggressive batting style, and holds the record for the fastest ODI century which he made in his first international innings, as well as scoring 32 runs in a single over, the second highest scoring over ever in an ODI.He also holds the distinction of having hit the most number of sixes in the history of ODI cricket.Afridi considers himself a better bowler than batsman, and has taken 48 Test wickets and over 300 in ODIs. Currently Afridi is the leading wicket taker in the Twenty20 format taking 53 wickets from 43 matches.

Reference:
Pakistanpaedia
Wikipedia
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