The record books are resplendent with fascinating statistics, facts and figures of the game which makes us marvel at the feats and landmarks reached by those who donned the cap for their country and became a source of pride for their nation.

If you are into cricket as I am, as a writer of this glorious sport, browsing more than often through the record books to find something different or unusual, then there will hardly be a dull moment for you as well. Depending how deeply you look at it to savour the efforts made by those who have their records documented for eternity.

But somehow I have always felt that facts and figures don’t really tell you the whole story and the situation in which those records were established unless you take time to go back in history and read about them.

Fifty-eight years on, Qamar Ahmed remembers Hanif Mohammad’s greatest feat that will remain difficult to emulate

I am gobsmacked by many. Sometimes I wonder that if ever a cricket’s marathon man had to be picked then who it would be? I would be lost for choice because there are so many splendid and incredible performances out there. I have therefore taken a lot safer route to concentrate on those who over the years have scored triple centuries in Test cricket.

From 1877 when Tests began up till now 24 batsmen have contributed to 28 triple centuries. Amongst them Don Bradman, Brian Lara, Verinder Sehwag and Chris Gayle have made two each.

It will be difficult to dispute or argue about the quality of each before them or those who scored after them. And all of them were made in the first innings of Test. The reason why having gone through the record books and details of each I feel that the greatest triple century ever made was by one of our own greats — the legendary former Pakistan captain Hanif Mohammad.

The nature, quality and situation in which he scored his triple century certainly makes it a marathon innings. Firstly, because it was the first triple century scored in the second innings of a match. Second, it came in a situation in which all was considered lost for Pakistan during a six-day match against the West Indies. It was also the inaugural Test of the five-match series against them. Hanif batted for 16 hours and 39 minutes, just over three-and-half days of that six-day Test to draw the match. It was the longest innings ever played in a Test match.

A batsman of infallible skill, with a solid defense and an unmatched power of concentration made Hanif Mohammad a true genius of the game. The historic innings of monumental stature started at Kensington Oval at Barbados after West Indies had made 579 for nine, thanks to centuries from debutant Conrad Hunte (142) and Everton Weekes (197), and bowled Pakistan out for 106 in their first innings that saw brilliant bowling by Roy Gilchrist, the fastest bowler of his time. Pakistan, 473 runs behind, then were asked to follow on on the third afternoon of the match on January 20, 1958.

By the end of day three, Pakistan having reached 162 for the loss of Imtiaz Ahmed for 91 after a poor decision was well into putting up a fight. Hanif determined as ever, having resumed the fourth day on 61, progressed towards a century and to one more partnership over a hundred with Alimuddin.

Hanif putting up a brave front against the menacing Gilchrist on a baked and grassless pitch, which reflected heat to his face, dropped anchor at the crease while continuing to take most of the strikes knowing full well the odds against him and the team.

On the fourth evening he was still there with 161 to take Pakistan to 339 for two having shared yet another 100-run stand, this time with Saeed Ahmed, a debutant. At lunch time on the fifth day, Hanif was 186, at tea, he was 216 and at stumps 270. Having saved Pakistan from an innings defeat he had also enabled the team to take a marginal lead of 51 runs.

On the sixth and final day of the match, resuming at his overnight 270 in the morning, he continued to keep his nerves under control and his concentration in check while facing Gilchrist, Atkinson, Sobers and Valentine. There were no helmets or thigh guards then. Hanif only had a towel in his left pocket to save him from getting bruised.

Still unbeaten at lunch with 297 having another valuable stand of over a hundred with his elder brother Wazir Mohammad, Hanif scored the much-awaited triple century after lunch to make Pakistan safe and in a position to draw the game.

By tea he had equaled Don Bradman’s 334, his highest in Tests and then Walter Hammond’s 336. The only target left for him was to aim for Len Hutton’s 364, the highest individual score in a Test made by an English batsman against Australia at The Oval in 1938. But a momentary loss of concentration deprived him of what he was aiming for as he nicked a Denis Atkinson delivery to the keeper Gerry Alexander when at 337.

His marathon innings had thus ended with a din of applause. Hanif’s innings contained 26 boundaries, 16 threes, 40 twos and 105 singles. The most interesting incident that happened during his stay on the crease was the falling of a spectator from a branch of a tree outside the ground from where he was watching Hanif’s record breaking innings. He was taken to hospital from where he returned after treatment to be helped to climb the tree again. The news of this young man falling off the tree made headlines prompting the Pakistan team to invite the boy inside the ground to watch the game from the team’s dressing room.

Hanif though shaken by the continuous barrage of short deliveries by Gilchrist during the series continued to dominate the Test scene for years to come even making an unbeaten 187 at Lord’s against England in 1967 as captain of Pakistan. I watched that innings and what a treat it was to see Hanif bat and score yet another hundred despite a knee injury.

I feel privileged to also have played first-class cricket in his era but mostly against him as he played for Karachi and I for Sindh and Hyderabad in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. I can never in my lifetime forget the day when I, too, joined those who took his priceless wicket at first-class level but not before he had made 129 runs. Then he went down the wicket to hit me out of sight but was caught at long on by substitute player Sharafat. To be honest he gifted his wicket to me after having made a century. It was the only time I took his wicket in the eight seasons of first-class cricket that I played.

The same season (1958-59), Hanif went on to break Don Bradman’s highest score in first-class cricket when at the Karachi Parsi Institute he went on to make 499 before being run out against Bahawalpur, after which he made a hundred against Sindh.

Hanif’s triple century record remained intact till 1994 when Brian Lara smashed 501 for Warwickshire against Durham to reach the top of the list.

But Hanif Mohammad, in my opinion was the best batsman of his time. If only he had support from others in the bating line-up he would have reached even greater heights. I remember, too, his first and only visit to Australia as captain of the national team when he scored a century at MCG in the first innings of a Test and was wrongly dismissed in the 90s, stumped by Barry Jarman. Ian Chappell confided and confirmed to me that Hanif was not out because the ball was not in the keeper’s gloves when given out. Chappell then was fielding in the slips.

Hanif remains a role model for me as well as anyone who understands batting and what it is all about. Yes, Zaheer Abbas, the supreme stylist, Javed Miandad, a pain in the neck for any bowler, majestic Majid Khan, big hearted Inzamam-ul-Haq or for that matter Mohammad Yousuf all have their own virtues as a quality batsmen. But Hanif now in his early 80s will no doubt remain the marathon man of the game.

Twitter: @Qamaruk

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, January 31st, 2016