Those were the days when Majid could hit a century in an hour and Imran could take 40 wickets in a series
THE 1967 Pakistan tour of England was memorable for a lot of reasons. There was Majid’s 61-minute-century against Glamorgan — an innings with thirteen sixes; Asifs glorious 146 at the Oval and Hanif’s valiant 187 at Lords.
Majid came to the crease at Swansea after predicting the fastest century of the season — a premonition obviously. He raced to the fastest century of the season in only 61 minutes and during his innings of 147 he belted thirteen towering sixes, including five in one over. It was an incredible innings which only came to an end with the declaration — an extremely untimely one. The tour management applied closure without checking the record books and that left him stranded three sixes short of bettering John Reid’s world record of fifteen sixes. The Daily Telegraph wrote the next day that the way he was batting he could have got the other three sixes with a tennis racquet.
Hanif played at Lords, probably the second best innings of his career after his marathon 337 at Bridgetown against West Indies. His innings of 187, mostly in company with Asif Iqbal who scored 76, staved off defeat. In fact, throughout the innings Hanif looked like the rock of Gibraltar.
At the Oval Asif played the best innings of his life which dampened England’s victory. He came into bat when all others had collapsed, and in partnership with Intikhab he set up a world record ninth wicket stand of 190. Hitting the bowling with utter contempt he blazed his way to a magnificent 146 before succumbing to fatigue. Following day, the headline read, “England’s success is dimmed by Asif’s glorious century.” Two omissions on the part of the tour selection committee were absolutely mind boggling. Parvez Sajjad who was the most successful bowler on the tour was not selected for any of the Tests. And Ghulam Abbas who was the most successful batsman after Majid, was not considered till the third Test when the series had been effectively sealed.
Zaheer’s 274 against England at Edgbaston will rank as one of the finest innings ever played. Majid’s century before lunch against New Zealand at Karachi will also be in the same category- this century came in 112 minutes and he became the fourth batsman to achieve the feat — the other three were all Australians including the legendary Don Bradman.
Majid was the most graceful of our batsmen and he seemed to have all the time in the world to play his strokes. Internationally too he was our most acclaimed batsman and names such as Majestic Khan, Mighty Khan and Magical Khan were coined for him by the British press. Zaheer was arguably the best player of spin bowling and during the 1978 home series against India, with a white bandanna on his forehead, he massacred the Indian quartet of Bedi, Chandrashekhar, Prassanna and Venkataraghavan, effectively ending their Test careers. He scored a double century and a century, apart from other big scores during the series.
Miandad was a master batsman and a great tactician. Apart from being the highest rungetter and centurion, he consistently had an average exceeding 50. The contribution of Mushtaq Mohammed has also been significant. Apart from being a genuine all rounder he was the captain who broke from the traditional ranks of defensive captains and it was under him that we achieved a string of victories abroad from mid to late-seventies.
While Majid was the most elegant of batsmen, Imran was the most devastating bowler the country has produced. Apart from being a fast bowler par excellence he always gave his hundred per cent. When one ponders over the great fast-bowlers, several names come to mind. But Imran and Lillee were a cut above the others and are in an exclusive class of their own. Both of them could make the ball swing considerably, both ways while bowling at a blistering pace — something which no other bowler could do. There were some West Indian bowlers who were also very fast but they could not swing the ball as much. Then there were others who could also swing the ball appreciably but at a comparatively gentle pace and as such could be easily negotiated by the batsman.
Imran and Lillee could also make the ball lift very awkwardly from a good length while bowling at express pace. Imran in particular, also mastered the art of bowling swinging or moving yorkers which were extremely disconcerting for the batsman. No other bowler commanded as much crowd adulation as these two did. The moment they would begin their run-up they would be accompanied by a deafening roar of the crowd. There was an air of expectancy with every ball bowled. Indeed one of the best sights in the game was to see Imran charging in. The quantum of swing that he generated both ways was baffling — the ball would dart around like a yo-yo at express pace. That was his trademark.
Imran began his trail of devastation at Sydney when he took six wickets in each innings of the match to give victory on a silver platter. Then onwards his excellent match figures become a routine and built around him were a lot of our victories. Against India at Faisalabad, he achieved another milestone when he scored 117 in the first innings and then took 11 wickets for 180 runs in the match. He and Botham are the only two cricketers who have scored a century and taken 10 wickets in the same match. During the 1982-83 Indian tour he took 40 wickets on our docile strips which is a testament to his greatness. Making the ball dart around he held complete sway over the Indians. One would recall that at Karachi he bowled one to Vishwanath way outside the off stump. The batsman left the ball which dipped in viciously and took his off-stump. If was absolutely a masterpiece. His tour haul of 40 wickets is an all time record which is not likely to be bettered.
It was during this tour, when giving all that he had against the arch rivals, he suffered a stress shin fracture which kept him out of the game for nearly two and a half years. Imran ended his career with a tally of 362 wickets and had he not missed out on two and a half years during his prime, he probably would have been the leading wicket taker in the game. As a captain he always led from the front and he has been our most successful captain. Selected as Pakistan’s sportsman of the millennium — an obvious choice for the occasion, Imran is Pakistan’s pride.
Those were the days when Majid could hit a century in an hour and Imran could take 40 wickets in a series 
