and say it was half an hour adrift) at the crease to save his country from a defeat most people suggested was carved in stone the sport has never seen again. Now, cricket is a game where records are broken with such frenetic frequency that nothing is really considered impossible to conceive. But Hanif made a telling mockery of the adage about records meant to being broken with a rearguard defi ance spread over three days in a six-day Test against the mighty West Indies in Barbados in 1958. It remains such an astounding feat that probably books could be written about it to try and make sense of the incredulity! Well-nigh impossible as it is to encapsulate the whole drama in this space, a bit-part attempt can at least be made to comprehend the scale of one man’ s mission impossible. Pakistan had been bowled out for a paltry 106 in response to West Indies’ imposing 579 and forced to follow on the third afternoon. Only a fool could have conceived any result other than a Caribbean romp but Hanif hung on like a man possessed as one partner or the other deserted him at the other end and batted out time to such maddening frustration that a West Indian daily suggested tongue-in-cheek that only security could remove the 5’ 6‘ giant’ Pakistani! At just 23, Hanif scored a monumental 337, which still remains the highest of the triple centurion pole away from home in all annals of Test history, spanning 140 years. No batsman before or after Hanif has held such a long vigil. He also held the record for the highest individual score in fi rst class cricket for 35 years before Brian Lara eclipsed his 499 by a solitary run. Hanif formed the famous quintet of Mohammad brothers, four of whom— Wazir, himself, Mushtaq and Sadiq— went on to play for Pakistan in Test matches whilst Raees, the fi fth one, served as the 12th man once— a remarkably uncanny milestone. But none matched the technique and temperament of Hanif although Mushtaq went on to become a successful and transformative captain. Dropping anchor came naturally to Hanif as was evident when he top-scored with 187 at Lord’ s in 1967 as captain( Pakistan were 139 for 7 in reply to England’ s 369 before Hanif carried on with the tail to help it post 354) at a time when the feared English attack had been tipped to roll him over with short pitched music for his lack of height! Often questioned about how he was able to concentrate for such unbelievably long hours, the Little Master put it down to playing‘ ball-by-ball’ as if it was that simple. Wisden Almanack, the cricket bible, Circa 1968, was able to draw on his bloody-minded doggedness, differently.“ As was his habit during times of strain on a tour beset by problems, he returned to his hotel room to listen to sitar music, the beauty of which is a mystery to most Western ears. He brought twelve tapes of it with him
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CRICKET from Karachi as if aware that his philosophies about both captaincy and batsmanship could lead to loneliness,” it wrote in selecting Hanif as one of the year’ s fi ve cricketers of the year. As suspected this space much like time and space that Hanif seemed to defy while batting has proven insuffi- cient to draw on his craft, and the man himself. Suffi ce it to say, they don’ t make his like anymore.