Former Pakistan batting great Hanif Mohammad died at the age of 81 after losing a prolonged battle with lung cancer at the Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi.
The original "Little Master", Mohammad was a part of Pakistan's first Test team, who played against India in 1952. Though Pakistan lost the match by an innings and 70 runs, he scored a half-century in the match.
Mohammad is widely known in Pakistan for playing a key role in taking the game to the masses. Though he was primarily a wicket keeper, he could bowl with both hands and finished with 53 first class wickets. Despite scoring 12 hundreds, it was the monumental 337 that he scored against West Indies at Bridgetown, Barbados in 1958 that shot him to fame.
In that Test, Pakistan were staring at defeat after being shot out for only 106 in the first innings, in reply to West Indies' 579/9 declared. In the second innings, Mohammad opened the batting batted for a record-breaking 970 minutes to save the Test, a result that looked improbable. It was the longest Test innings of all time, a feat that still remains unbeaten. A year later, he smashed his highest first class score too, amassing 499.
Adept in defense and attack, Mohammad was one of the first players to improvise and use the reverse sweep to good effect. Born in Junagadh in Gujarat, Mohammad came from a cricketing family; his brothers Raees, Mushtaq and Sadiq and son Shoaib played for Pakistan. After hanging up his boots, Mohammad co-founded a magazine and had an stint as an adminstrator for the Pakistan International Airlines side.
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