KARACHI Leading sports journalist and statistician Gul Hameed Bhatti passed away on Thursday after prolonged illness.

Bhatti was one of the pioneer cricket statisticians of Pakistan who created and was maintaining the most comprehensive database on Pakistani domestic cricket.

Having begun his sports journalism career with The Cricketer magazine, Bhatti moved to The News as one of its founding members. He later served as the paper's editor and sports editor, and went on to become the Jang Group's sports editor, according to leading cricket website Cricinfo.

Bhatti was aged 63 at the time of his passing and is survived by his two children, Kamal and Sara.