KARACHI, April 29: Former Pakistan Test wicket-keeper/batsman Shahid Israr expired here on Monday and was laid to rest at the Model Colony graveyard. He was 63.

Shahid, who had developed some complications after undergoing a bypass surgery about a month ago, left behind a widow, two daughters and hundreds of students to mourn his death.

Rashid Israr, Shahid’s younger brother, also played first-class cricket during the 1970s.

Highly educated but modest, Shahid played his only Test as wicket-keeper against New Zealand at Karachi in 1976-77 when the then BCCP decided to drop regular wicket-keeper Wasim Bari along with some several senior players — led by former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal — over a pay dispute.

Shahid played 31 first-class games, scoring 868 runs with 93 as his highest score. He took 66 catches and made 22 stumpings as wicket-keeper. The funeral prayers of the deceased were attended by a number of cricketing personalities including former Pakistan captain Wasim Bari, Test cricketers Ejaz Fakih, Jalaluddin, international Ghulam Ali, KCCA president Sirajul Islam Bukhari, chairman Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association Fawad Ijaz Khan, Brig (r) Salahuddin, Sindh Ombudsman Asad Ashraf Malik, several former first-class cricketers, his students, relatives and friends.

After securing a degree from the NED University in 1970, Shahid got his electrical engineering degree from Imperial College, London in 1972.

He remained the secretary of the PVCA from 1998 to 2003 besides rendering fine teaching services to hundreds of poor students in low-lying areas such as Azam Basti where he delivered lectures on various issues of life to motivate and inspire them.—APP