KARACHI, May 4: Former Pakistan captain Mushtaq Mohammad admitted on Wednesday that elder brothers Raees Mohammad, Hanif Mohammad and Wazir Mohammad besides his mother were the inspirational forces behind his success in cricket. “Hanif, Wazir and Raees bhai were key figures in my becoming a good cricketer. My mother was an inspiration for me when chips were down,” he said while speaking at a reception and gold medal award ceremony held in his honour at Karachi Gymkhana.

Glowing tributes were paid by the speakers including former Pakistan captains Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Dr. Waqar Masood Khan, former PCB chief Lt. Gen. (Retd) Tauqir Zia and former Test batsman Waqar Hasan for rendering meritorious services for Pakistan.

Mushtaq said he was deeply honoured to be at this ceremony and appreciated the organizers for remembering heroes of yesteryears.

Recalling one incident of 1976-77 series against Australia in Sydney when Imran Khan took 12 wickets in the Match, Mushtaq said Imran was warned for intimidating bowling to Dennis Lillee by the umpires. “I went to umpire and satisfied him. But urged Imran to take Lillee's head off with another bouncer while he was walking back to his bowling mark. The bouncer zipped close to Lillee's head and Miandad standing close by asked Aussies pacer did he enjoy it”.

Interestingly Lillee had been bowling bouncers to Pakistan lower order batsmen in that match but Pakistan recorded famous victory at Sydney Cricket Ground.

Mushtaq described Javed Miandad and Sarfraz Nawaz as the great characters in Pakistan cricket both on and off the field besides Sir Garfield Sobers and Freddie Trueman.

He revealed that Abdul Dyer had a great contribution in building his career in early days and Karachi Cricket Association and PIA provided him platform from where he moved on.

Javed said that Mushtaq was the fighter to the core and he learnt a great deal from him in his early part of his career. “Mushtaq had multiple qualities as batsman, bowler and as a skilful captain and he had great impact on Pakistan cricket,” Miandad remarked.

Dr. W'aqar Masood Khan said Mohammad family played a great role in introducing Pakistan to sporting world as a fledgling nation and Mushtaq was one of stars.

While commanding the services and outstanding performance of Mushtaq he said it was him who taught Pakistan to win against formidable teams like Australia and the West Indies. “Those nations, who forget their past heroes can not progress and we badly need such legends to follow cuit,” he maintained. “Besides being a great tactician, Mushtaq was a great leader, motivater and role model for the youngsters ,” Dr.Waqar said.

General Tauqir Zia said the Mohammad family was the most skilled family in the history of Pakistan cricket and they made a remarkable contribution for the country. “I have great respect for Mohammad family” he said. He said scoring 31091 runs in 502 first games with at an average of 42.07 with 72 centuries and 3643 runs in 57 Tests with ten hundreds speaks greatly of the value of his contribution.

Waqar Hasan said he saw discovery of great batsman when Mushtaq scored a fighting fifty against West Indies in Peshawar in 1959. “He later emerged as cricket legend and was second best captain after Hafeez Kardar,” Waqar said.—APP