KARACHI: Pakistan batting great Zaheer Abbas was formally inducted into the Pakistan Cricket Boards Hall of Fame on Saturday.

The 74-year-old former batter received his commemorative cap and plaque from PCB chief executive Faisal Has­nain during the lunch break of the second Test between Pakistan and Australia at Karachi’s National Stadium.

Zaheer is the third PCB Hall of Famer after Fazal Mahmood and Wasim Akr­am to be formally inducted, with the remaining five inductions to take place in due course.

Speaking on the occasion, Zaheer said, “I feel humbled to have been recognised in such a respectful and honourable manner by my parent organisation at my home ground, during play of my favo­u­rite format of the game and in front of passionate cricket fans, who have also played an integral part throu­ghout my cricketing career.”

Known as a run-machine, Zaheer has remained the only Asian batter to score a century of first-class hundreds.

In international cricket, Zaheer scored 5,062 runs in 78 Tests at 44.79 with 12 centuries. He struck seven centuries in 62 ODIs while scoring 2,572 runs at 47.62.

Zaheer scored 1,000 or more Tests runs against Aus­t­ralia (1,411 runs in 20 Tests), England (1,086, 14 Tests) and India (1,740, 19 Tests).

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2022