Amin Lakhani : Double Hat-trick against India in First Class match

[Howzat_1]

When I saw the name of Lakhani in record book, I was just got curious and after some research came to know about him and reason why he didn’t play any test.

Amin Lakhani was born on 1st october 1959 at Karachi. He was a Left Aram leg spinner. He was remarkable at his first class career and at the tender age of 18 he received a call for Pakistan test playing eleven. A dream comes true for any cricket of that age. He amazed all cricket lovers by taking three wickets on three consecutive deliveries in both the innings of a First Class match against arch rivals India at Multan in 1978 and became the 7[SUP]th[/SUP] & till the date last bowler who grabbed two double hat tricks in FC. For establishing a unique record, he received a handsome gift from Fateh Singh Gaekwad, the manager of the Indian cricket team and ex-ruler of Baroda State.

Records | First-class matches | Bowling records | Two hat-tricks in the same match | ESPN Cricinfo

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→ Amin Lakhani reached 50 wickets in first-class matches when taking his 3rd wicket in the Indians first innings
→ Amin Lakhani achieved his best innings bowling analysis in first-class matches in the Indians first innings (previous best was 6-76)
→ Amin Lakhani completed a hat-trick in the Indians first innings (Ghavri, Venkataraghavan, Reddy)
→ Amin Lakhani completed a hat-trick in the Indians second innings (Amarnath, Kirmani, Kapil Dev)

**All eyes were upon him that he would do wonders for Pakistan but unfortunately during net practice he broke his finger. Hence losing the golden chance. Many say that the news of his broken finger was just a rumor but the inside story remains untold till the day. **

He continued playing first class cricket and Allied Bank, Karachi, Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, Pakistan Universities, United Bank Limited were the major teams he played for.

Nevertheless, since he had already become a sensation, Lakhani was greeted with a loud roar from the 40,000-strong crowd at Karachi’s National Stadium when he entered the playing area (as the 12th man) during the game’s first drink break. His finger was not bandaged and seemed fine.
After polishing off the visiting Indians 2-0, captain Mushtaq Muhammad’s Pakistan team was scheduled to tour New Zealand and Australia.
It was almost certain that the young 18-year-old sensation would be part of the touring squad. He wasn’t.

The press was up in arms again. The management sited Lakhani’s ‘injured finger’ and the fact that he needed a bit more experience.
However, it is also believed that Lakhani ‘lost focus’ after being thrown so suddenly into the limelight

A teammate of Lakhani’s in the latter’s club side in Karachi, Haroon Nazim, told me that Lakhani who had been painfully shy around girls at school, was overwhelmed when he began receiving ‘romantic’ fan mail from young women.
‘He was shown all kinds of dreams by those who wanted him to feature in ads and magazine covers,’ Nazim said. ‘He began to think that he was well on his way to becoming a rich and famous cricket star.’

But as the team left for the New Zealand and Australia tour, within a matter of months the advertising contracts that were offered to Lakhani were withdrawn, the sudden fan mail stopped, the press lost interest and it seemed Lakhani had vanished from the scene as quickly as he had appeared.

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I got this article and got heavy heart especially reading above bold lines but I am not agreed with the writer as it was not the politics of Lahore/Karachi region, Iqbal Qasim / Tauseef Ahmed from Karachi were already in the team & performing well. there might be some politics but that ll be definately city politics not regional politics.

Whatever be the reasons another players failed to get chance in team but his name will always be in record books, the last player who did double hat trick in First Class. I believe there must be countless individuals with such a talent who due to poverty never even tried for a club team. But in recent times Board tried hard and got talented cricketers like Aamir, Muhammad Irfan and this practice should continue. Board / senior officials should guide them through fame and fortune to keep their dignity.

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[Howzat_1]

Re: Amin Lakhani : Double Hat-trick against India in First Class match

Full Article …

Crazy diamonds – V - Blogs - DAWN.COM

In October 1978, a young 18-year-old left-arm spin bowler from Karachi found himself making the headlines in the cricket playing world.His name was Amin Lakhani – a kid who had risen to play first-class cricket from the congested streets of Karachi and inducted into the Karachi University team by famous cricket coach, late Master Aziz, who had plucked him after watching him perform at a club game.

Lakhani had only played a handful of first-class games when he was inducted into the Pakistan Universities XI to play a side match against the visiting Indian Test side led by Bishen Singh Bedi.

But Lakhani taking 12 wickets in the game against a strong Indian batting line-up was not what put him in the news.
The thing that turned him into a sudden star was that in the match he became only the eighth bowler in cricket’s long history to grab a ‘double hat trick.’
His two six wicket hauls in the 3-day game included a hat trick each. Or hat tricks in two consecutive innings.
At once this shy, unassuming and obscure teenager was thrown into the limelight.

Not only was he selected in the 14-member squad announced for the third Test match of the series, he was offered lucrative advertising contracts by multinationals, invited for interviews on radio and TV, and showered with gifts from the cricket board, fans and even by the Indian captain.

It was a startling turnaround for a kid whose father had struggled to keep him at school, and who was simply lingering on the fringes of Karachi’s cricket.
The performance also bagged him a playing contract and a regular salary from Habib Bank.

Enjoying his sudden fame, surrounded by new-found fans and gifts, Lakhani joined the big boys in the Pakistan team for the Karachi Test of the 3-match series.
Sure to be selected in the final XI, Lakhani was training hard in the nets with the team when disaster struck. He fractured a finger.
At least that’s what the team management said when press reporters inquired why Lakhani was not in the final side.
The press didn’t buy the story, but it couldn’t ask Lakhani because the team management had put a restriction on team members talking to the press without first getting the management’s consent.

Nevertheless, since he had already become a sensation, Lakhani was greeted with a loud roar from the 40,000-strong crowd at Karachi’s National Stadium when he entered the playing area (as the 12th man) during the game’s first drink break. His finger was not bandaged and seemed fine.

After polishing off the visiting Indians 2-0, captain Mushtaq Muhammad’s Pakistan team was scheduled to tour New Zealand and Australia.
It was almost certain that the young 18-year-old sensation would be part of the touring squad. He wasn’t.
The press was up in arms again. The management sited Lakhani’s ‘injured finger’ and the fact that he needed a bit more experience.
However, it is also believed that Lakhani ‘lost focus’ after being thrown so suddenly into the limelight.

A teammate of Lakhani’s in the latter’s club side in Karachi, Haroon Nazim, told me that Lakhani who had been painfully shy around girls at school, was overwhelmed when he began receiving ‘romantic’ fan mail from young women.
‘He was shown all kinds of dreams by those who wanted him to feature in ads and magazine covers,’ Nazim said. ‘He began to think that he was well on his way to becoming a rich and famous cricket star.’
But as the team left for the New Zealand and Australia tour, within a matter of months the advertising contracts that were offered to Lakhani were withdrawn, the sudden fan mail stopped, the press lost interest and it seemed Lakhani had vanished from the scene as quickly as he had appeared.

Angry, confused and bitter, the young boy fell into depression. Though he continued to play some first-class cricket till about the early 1980s, people had all but forgotten about him.
He was only in his early 20s when he simply dropped out and ‘retired’ from the game.
His name continued to shine brightly in the record books, but his dream of becoming a cricketing star and of turning over the fate and fortunate of his struggling family simply withered away.

After falling in and out of depression and holding and losing various non-cricketing jobs throughout the 1980s, Lakhani is said to have ‘found peace’ by joining the Islamic evangelical organisation, the Tableeghi Jammat, in the 1990s.
Today he lives a quiet and modest life in Karachi, perhaps still wondering exactly who decided that he had a ‘broken finger’ that fateful day?