A nice article on Legendary Javed Miandad and felt sorry about this great Pakistani Cricketer, a true street fighter, man of crises…
After reading this article, I wish Misbah to leave Cricket by himself rather to be kicked out cheaply.
In 1972, Karachi was playing against another local club, the captain of Karachi was on the crease and the situation was tough & tense,the scoreboard reading was that Karachi required 18 runs off last three deliveries. A young boy asked the manager to call the captain back in thepavilion as he was a defensive sort of player and let the young man face thesituation. The manager initially hesitated but then agreed to do so. Came outthe youngster and Karachi won the match as he hit three consecutive sixes tothe other sides attacking bowler. That young man never new that he would becalled the Mum & Dad of cricket in future.
In the next year 1973, He scored a triple hundred whileplaying for Karachi Whites against the Pakistan Railways at the age of 17years. This world record has still to see a contest, by that mammoth 311 runsinnings he become the youngest player to make a triple hundred in first classcricket in the world.
After two Years in 1975, that young lad was selected in theWorld Cup squad of his country Pakistan. Playing his first match against thegiants of world cricket West Indies, who was full of terrorist bowlers and killerbatsmen, that young man denied every bowler to take his wicket. While bowlingin the same match he captured the wicket of Super Captain of West Indies, CliveLloyd . By that performance he made his presence on the field bright. When hecame out to bat, the commentators were calling him Pervez (they were thinkingthat this man is Pervez Meer) but he made them think twice and then they werecalling him by his name.
The next year 1976, Kiwis toured Pakistan for 3 test series.In the first test match this young man made his debut, he came out whenPakistan had lost Majid Khan, Mushtaq Mohammad, Zaheer Abbas, Sidiq Mohammad ata score of 44, the scoreboard reading was 44/4 and Asif Iqbal was on thecrease, out came the youngster and scored a scintillating 163 in his firstinnings with completion of the ton with three successive boundaries. On thatoccasion Asif Iqbal said that the young boy was even guiding him during theirtremendous partnership, Asif said that he was happy that he made 3 runs morethen the cricketing brain. In the second test that young man made the writingon the wall easier by hitting a marathon 206 not out against the poor kiwis whohad the services of bowlers like Richard Hadlee. By hitting this double hundredhe made a world record of being the youngest in the world to score a doublecentury and this record of his still has to see a contest. It was the time whenpeople of the cricket world and the lords of the cricket world started to stareat each other quietly.
In 1978, the Indian team, the arch rival of the young man’ssquad, toured Pakistan and this boy helped Pakistan win the series, and then hewas included in the list of greats of cricket. In the later part of the year hewas unable to score something mentionable against the West Indies because ofthe death of his Father NOOR MOHAMMAD MIANDAD KHAN.
In 1979, the young man was appointed captain of the team bythe board president Air Marshal NOOR KHAN, which many people think that was nota wise decision, but I don’t agree with them because that young guy provedhimself to be the best. In 1981-82 he toured Australia with his team and gave atough time to the Aussies and when Lilee kicked him he showed the guy that whathappens when you kick a man and the man is Miandad. That year he stepped downfrom the captaincy for Imran Khan and accepted the place of his deputy and hewas happy with Imran Khan . The cricket world knows the The IMRAN-MIANDADcombination is unbeatable at any forum. Then these two giants of cricketstarted to lift the babes of cricket towards the destination which was achievedafter a decade.
In the next memorable session 1982-83, India againvisited Pakistan for a six test match series, in the second test match at NiazStadium Hyderabad he scored 280* not out and made a world record of the highestpartnership for any wicket in test cricket (451 runs) and also equaled theworld record of William Ponsford and Donald Bradman which was set in 1938against English team. The master was stopped by breaking the record of Sir GarfieldSobers by the captain Imran Khan, who declared the innings when the wonderboywas on 280 and going great guns. Imran did not even ask him for a particulartime and the number of overs he can play, and that was one of the or may be the worst decision of Imran Khan ascaptain of Pakistan cricket team. But the great man never complained about it,instead he went on making four more double hundreds in his remaining career.
In 1984, Imran Khan got injured and the captaincy was givento the master again and he proved to be the right choice again when he beat SriLanka three-nil in the test series and also hit a double hundred against theLankans. During this time he had played in all the three World Cups which wereheld in England and helped Pakistan to win but the lady luck was not with hissquad.
In 1986 he suddenly turned around the table of One DayCricket for Pakistan when in Australasia cup he showed the perfect way andcombination to win a game of this level, In Sharjah India set a target of 245runs for Pakistan and The cricketing brain made it possible for the Pakistan byhitting an unbeaten 116 with a six on the last ball of Chetan Sharma alsofinishing the career off for the poor chap. He was a real Super Hero by thattime, people started to copy him all over the world, he was named as the Man ofCrises and the Master batsman.
The next year in the extravaganza of the world cup in Indiaand Pakistan, he was again the deputy of Imran and he helped or we can saysteer Pakistan to the semi-final of the cup, but the lady luck again favouredAustralia when Pakistan was set a target of more then 250 and Pakistan’s wicketkeeper got injured, the man told Imran not to worry for he will keep thewickets, and he did it magnificently against the bowlers like Imran, Qadir andAkram, he kept the wickets for 45 overs then batted in the whole Pakistaninnings and made 70 runs but in vain, Pakistan Lost, another chance missed, thenation shocked .
Next season he proved that he is the only man in the worldwho can not be dominated when he hit two hundreds in West Indies and hitting adouble hundred in England and a hundred in One Dayer in England. In 1989 he wasagain awarded with the captaincy and he again washed the kiwis out in a threetest series 3-0 after hitting another double hundred against them in Auckland,then in 1990 came Imran and the bad back. He was not very prolific in the1990-91 but certainly most dangerous, so because of his bad medical conditionand bad politics he was dropped for the national squad for a match or two indifferent series, but he was still confident and the nation waited for hisaction and magical form.
Then came the 1992, When the team was announced on thenational television his name was not included, he got dejected by hearing that.But Imran came to the decision that we can’t win without that man, so he wascalled to down under and proved his fitness in the first outing in a warm-upmatch against Sri Lankans by hitting an unbeaten 80*, then he scored the mostruns in that world cup after Martin Crowe who had the advantage of smallgrounds and home crowd, he scored 437 runs with 5 fifties in 9 outings. AfterWinning the world cup Imran retired leaving the mum&dad in charge, he wentto England and crushed England by a 2-1 victory in the tests and the Kiwis by1-0 and when he came back to his country he was thrown away from theleadership, and his heart was crying on the manners adopted by the cricketboard towards him so as the Pakistan Cricket future.
In 1993 he agreed to play under his pupil Wasim Akram, as hehit another Hundred against the South Africans making brilliant stroke playagainst Allan Donald towards Jonty Rhodes, when after that match Jhonty wasasked about his failure in stopping those mastered shots he commented “I’vegot the legs, He’s got the brain” . In 1994, for the first time in hisillustrious and brilliant long career he was dropped from the team by his ownpupil, Akram. That decision cost Akram his captaincy and fame in Pakistan. Themaster batsman announced his retirement in 6th April 1994 while crying in aspeech and the cricket lovers in Pakistan went mad,chanting (No Miandad,NoCricket) the then Prime Minister of Pakistan and President of Pakistan had tocome in the happenings and request the batting wizard to reconsider hisdecision. He in the best interest of the nation and the cricket of Pakistanunretired himself and made himself available for the selection.
In 1996, he was selected in the World Cup squad on merit byscoring high number of runs in the trial matches in Pakistan. Wasim Akramplaced him at sixth number in the batting lineup “what a waste” wherehe was of no use he was no longer a young and energetic man, what he had atthat time was charisma and experience to over come all the teams playing in thecup. In Bangalore, he replayed the scene for those who were children or notborn till 1975 when he made his debut. Just Like the debut match he was denyingevery bowler to take his wickets and he was successful, In the debut match hebatted on 5th place just like the Bangalore encounter. Pakistan lost the gamein 1975 same happened in 1996, but was there one difference? Indeed a huge one,in the match of 1975 MIANDAD was coming to cricket whereas in 1996 MUM&DADwas leaving it.
**Players will come and players will go, but will there be any other street fighter, will there be any other’never an out’, will there be any other wonder boy and will there be any otherMum&Dad of cricket? the answer is ‘NO’.
**
We Lost him and we did not even bother for a standing farewell tothe great Javed Miandad. God Forgive Us.
The Man They Called Mum & Dad