Pakistan's Spin Wizard, Adbul Qadir passes away at 63
By Anurag Mallick Published on 7 Sep 2019 6:25 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Pakistan's Spin Wizard and one of the best leg spinners to ever play the game, Abdul Qadir has passed away at 63 following a cardiac arrest in Lahore on Friday.
Representing Pakistan in 67 Tests and 104 ODIs, Qadir had a total of 368 international wickets. He had 15 5-wicket hauls in tests and two 5-wicket hauls to his name and also scored 1,029 runs in the test matches with three half-centuries and a highest score of 61*. Making his debut way back in 1977, he represented Pakistan for 16 years until his retirement in 1993.
His best performance came in the 1987 home series against England when he picked 30 wickets in a 3-match test series with his best bowling figures of 9-57 coming in the same series at the Gaddafi Stadium.
His best performance in the shorter format came against Srilanka at the 1983 World Cup where he picked five wickets for 44 runs. He was named 'Man of the Match' in his ODI debut against Newzealand for his bowling figures of 4-21. He was a part of Pakistan's World Cup squad in 1983 and 1987.
He was described as "A master of the leg-spin" by Yahoo Cricket. He was also a part of Richie Bernard's 'Greatest 11', an imaginary cricket team consisting of all the best players from different countries.
Former England Captain, Graham Gooch said that "he was even finer than Shane Warne."
He was elected as the Chief Selector in November 2008 for the home series against India with 5 ODIs, 3 Tests and 3 T20's to be played. BCCI cancelled this tour following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008.
His next assignment was the team selection against Sri Lanka, which was the replacement for the series against India. The series was abandoned following a terrorist attack on the Srilankan cricket team. He gave in his resignation on June 2009 without any explanation.
