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Pakistani cricketers who have taken thousands of runs and hundreds of wickets in county cricket in England |
League sniper Abdul Qadir was asked if he had been offered several times to play county cricket in England but why did he not accept? To which he replied, "I did not want to show my art to others because only Pakistan has the right to it."
Abdul Qadir had this personal opinion but in the 70's and 80's a large number of Pakistani cricketers were busy playing county cricket in England and it is well known that these cricketers should not only play county cricket but also improve their game. But the extraordinary performance of these cricketers continued to play an important role in the victories of the county teams.
So who are the cricketers who have scored hundreds and taken hundreds of wickets while playing county in England?
Who was the first Pakistani cricketer to play for the county ?
Pakistan's first Test captain Abdul Hafeez Kardar had already stepped into English county cricket before the formation of Pakistan and was considered one of the most important players in Warwickshire.
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After Pakistan was formed, Yawar Saeed and Khan Muhammad represented Somerset.
Khalid Ibadullah, the first Pakistani batsman to score a century in the first Test, started his career for Warwickshire in the 1950s, but the doors of county cricket began to open for Pakistani cricketers in the 1960s.
All round performance of Mushtaq Mohammad and Intikhab Alam
Mushtaq Mohammad, playing for Northamptonshire for 12 years, scored more than 15,000 runs, including 32 centuries. He also took 551 wickets.
Intikhab Alam had been playing Test cricket for 10 years when he joined County Surrey. The role of Intikhab Alam has always been important in Surrey's performance.
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Intikhab Alam played county after the Pakistan team's tour of England in 1971 and took 32 wickets to help Surrey win the county title.
Intikhab Alam, playing for Surrey, took 629 wickets and scored more than 5,000 runs.
Majid Khan and Asif Iqbal successful captains
Majid Khan and Asif Iqbal came into Test cricket together and together they started county cricket.
After the Pakistan team's tour of England in 1967, Majid Khan was added by Glamorgan and Asif Iqbal joined Kent.
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In the 1969 season, Glamorgan's team became the county champions in which Majid Khan's performance of more than 1500 runs was of great importance.
Majid Khan scored 21 first-class centuries for Glamorgan and he also captained Glamorgan for three consecutive years.
Asif Iqbal's county career spanned 14 years and during that time he scored more than 13,000 runs. He also captained Kent for three years. With him, Kent won nine titles, including two county championship titles.
ظہیرAbbas and Sadiq Mohammad's run stock
Zaheer Abbas, the only Asian batsman to score more than 100 centuries in first-class cricket, scored a double century in the Edgbaston Test against England in 1971, after which he was joined by Gloucestershire County.
He was associated with Gloucestershire for 12 years, during which time he scored more than 16,000 runs, including 49 centuries.
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His greatest achievement in first-class cricket is scoring centuries in both innings of eight matches. Four of those eight matches are in which he scored a double century in one innings and a century in the other.
Meanwhile, Sadiq Mohammad was also part of Gloucestershire and managed to score more than 12,000 runs.
Javed Miandad's talent came to the fore
Javed Miandad had already entered county cricket before becoming a Test cricketer. He was brought to Sussex County by Tony Gregg.
Javed Miandad represented Sussex for four years, during which time he managed to score seven centuries, after which he played for Glamorgan for six years where he scored 17 centuries.
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Tony Gregg remembers the time when he selected Javed Miandad and Imran Khan, who he thought were the best young players, to include non-British cricketers in the team.
Imran and Sarfraz's speed and swing
Imran Khan's county cricket started in Worcestershire where he managed to take more than 100 wickets but he played most of his career for Sussex and took 409 first class wickets.
Of his 30 first-class centuries, 18 were in county cricket.
In the presence of Imran Khan, Sussex won two limited overs tournaments.
Sarfraz Nawaz played 12 seasons for Northamptonshire and took 511 of his 1005 wickets in first-class cricket for the county. They were part of the team that won two limited overs finals at Lord's.
JTN IMAGESThe batsmen's peace was ruined at the hands of 2Ws
Wasim Akram's swing and Waqar Younis' fast bowlers proved fatal for the batsmen. Wasim Akram played for Lancashire for ten years and took 374 first-class wickets.
He won five ODI trophies for Lancashire. He also represented Hampshire in the last year of his career.
Waqar Younis' 68 wickets helped Glamorgan become the county champions in 1997 after 28 years, including a career-best eight-wicket haul against Sussex for just 17 runs.
He also played for Surrey and Warwickshire. For Surrey, he bowled brilliantly in the 1991 season and took 113 wickets.
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Mushtaq Ahmed sq Li Yin long match winner
Mushtaq Ahmed joined Sussex after playing for Somerset and Surrey and has taken more than 100 wickets in two seasons while taking 90 wickets in one season.
Thaqleen Mushtaq took 424 wickets while playing for Surrey County. He was also effective in limited overs cricket, taking more than 100 wickets.
Younis Ahmed's perseverance
Younis Ahmed has played only four Test matches due to various controversies, but in county cricket he seems to be consistently scoring runs. Younis Ahmed played for three county teams, Surrey, Worcestershire and Glamorgan.
He has scored 46 centuries in first-class cricket, 40 of which he has scored in county matches.
The professional style of county cricket
Asif Iqbal, former captain of the Pakistani cricket team and Kent County, told BBC Urdu that county cricket brought professionalism to the game which was not there before because if you don't perform well, these counties will give you whatever you want. How many great cricketers drop.
He said that no international cricketer would want to be dropped from the club team.
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Asif Iqbal says that a large number of non-British cricketers came to county cricket from the late 60s and with their arrival the quality of county cricket had also increased a lot.
"Because of the cricketers' play, a large number of spectators were also flocking to the grounds."
Asif Iqbal says that county cricket has benefited Pakistan and West Indies cricket a lot. His players got to play the best quality cricket which significantly improved his game.
Asif Iqbal fully agrees with the impression that Pakistani cricketers, who had an outstanding individual performance in county cricket in the 70's, could not give a collective performance while playing for the Pakistani team, which would have led the team to success.
Asif Iqbal says that when all these cricketers were playing for the county, they were playing in their individual capacity but when you are playing in the team, you have to perform as a team.
Asif Iqbal says that an important point is that the job of a captain is to get the best performances from his players.
He said that the greatest example of this is the England captain Mike Brarley who was not a good player himself but he was an intelligent captain who could get the best performances from his players.
"The Pakistani team was on its way to victory when the leadership came in the hands of Mushtaq Mohammad."
JTN IMAGESThe world appreciates Pakistani cricketers
Renowned commentator and former first-class cricketer Alan Wilkins has played county cricket with Pakistani cricketers.
Speaking to BBC Urdu, Alan Wilkins says that Majid Khan was his first captain when he came to play in Glamorgan as a university student.
"He had a quiet and dignified personality, which is why everyone respected him," he said. He also spoke less in the field and usually instructed the fielders with hand gestures.
Alan Wilkins says that "Majid Khan's batting reflected his personality which attracted the attention of the fans very quickly."
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"He used to play the cover drive in a lavish manner and he used to pull the short pitch balls beautifully," he says. He used to play strokes with great skill and natural style without heavy footwork.
When Alan Wilkins left Glamorgan to join Gloucestershire, he had the opportunity to play with Zaheer Abbas and Sadiq Muhammad.
"Zaheer Abbas was born to bat," he said.
"No one else has been able to bat closer to nature like him," he says. Zaheer Abbas spread smiles on the faces of the people with his charming batting.
He says his batting style was beautiful. "He never used force but lovingly used his wrist to deliver the red ball to its destination.
"His batting was like Picasso's creation."
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Alan Wilkins says he does not know who first gave Zaheer Abbas the title of Asian Bradman, but the truth is that if there is another Bradman in Asia, it is none other than Zaheer Abbas.
Alan Wilkins says he has played both against and against Javed Miandad.
"He was a cricketer you would like to feed with yourself, not against yourself."
Alan Wilkins says Miandad was a batsman who did his best to distract the bowlers.
He says he excelled at playing the ball wherever he wanted and he knew how to adapt to all kinds of pitches and conditions.
Alan Wilkins remembers well the incident when he was playing a match against Miandad and after playing a ball, Miandad started coaching him on what kind of ball he should play, to which Wilkins told him that he Don't distract and let them do their work.
In this innings, Miandad made 156 runs and became LBW on the ball of Alan Wilkins. When he was leaving, he had to say to Alan Wilkins, "Well bold Wilkins, you did well by listening to my advice."
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