Three batsmen have made three centuries in successive ODI innings - the Pakistan pair of Zaheer Abbas (1982-83) and Saeed Anwar (1993-94), and Herschelle Gibbs of South Africa, who made three in a row in 2002-03, two in Colombo and one at home in South Africa. Arguably Zaheer’s was the most impressive performance: in a four-match series against India he scored 10 at Gujranwala, 118 from 86 balls at Multan, 105 from 82 balls at Lahore, and 113 from 99 balls at Karachi. In his next ODI, against Sri Lanka in the 1983 World Cup at Swansea, he made 82. For a full list of the batsmen who have made two or three centuries in successive ODIs
I had know about Saeed Anwar, but did not about Zaheer and in the way he did. Back in those days scoring 118 of 86 balls, 105 of 82 balls,113 of 99 balls is and considering all 3 were on 3 different grounds…
Zaheer abbas is one of those unfortunate players who were never given the due credit in their own country. I have seen zaheer playing in 1982 series against India and with out any doubt i can claim that he is the most stylish player i have ever seen playing. Only Azhar and David glower falls into the same category so far the style is considered. New generation has seen saeed anwar playing but trust me, zaheer was far ahead of saeed when it comes to style and playing from wrist. It is difficult to portray his magical batting until you see him playing. Timing was to so perfect that strokes used to be absolutely effortless.
Zaheer was known for his effortless flicks and unbelievable square cuts. In Pakistan zaheer was never given the respect he deserved because of same old dirty politics. Zaheer was a gentleman and for most part of his career just concentrated on batting. However, Zaheer was extremely famous in England and Australia. In 1982, Wisden conducted a survey to choose 4 best batsmen of that time and zaheer was one of them including Gavaskar, Vivian Richard and Ian chapel. Only top-notch international players voted for that survey. Throughout seventies, Zaheer was the most sought out international cricketer from Pakistan. Zaheer is the only player in whole Asia to score 100 centuries in first class cricket. No one else has done it so far including tendulkar, gavaskar, javed miandad and many more. Zaheer 587 runs in a 3 test match series against India (1978) remained a world record for almost 20 years until Lara broke it against sri lanka. Zaheer was extremely successful in county cricket. He played for Gloucestershire for almost 14 years and he scored so many runs and centuries that he was given the title 'Asian Bradman" by English press. Almost every year, he scored more than 1000 runs in county season. When Zaheer finally retied from county cricket, Gloucestershire county decided to name a road by his name. His one day average is almost 48 which itself is a marvleous job.In test matches he avergaed close to 45 in 74 test matches.he croed almost 37000 runs in first class cricket. ( I am pretty sure abt this number but it cud be little off... but it is not less than 34000 runs)
I guess Javed, Gavaskar and Border may be big in numbers but they were never fun to watch to. Zaheer was an absolute pleasure to watch because of his elegant style…………
i donno too much abt those times, but people say imran ended his career. can neone comment on that?? was he really over by the time he retired, or did he still have something left in him to carry on for couple yrs or somethin.. ??
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*Originally posted by akpower: *
i donno too much abt those times, but people say imran ended his career. can neone comment on that?? was he really over by the time he retired, or did he still have something left in him to carry on for couple yrs or somethin.. ??
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imran awlays praised him because of his talent but also gave him hard time . imran always thought that zaheer is not that solid when testing times comes but then who was imran to decide zaheer caliber and i am pretty confident abt this statement. zaheer himself was an icon and was much bigger star than imran khan from 1971 to 1978.
zaheer was born in 1947 and retired in 1985 which makes him almost 37 years old by the day he retired. so i guess he did not have a pre mature retirement, plus zaheer reflexes were not the same and he was having hard time against quality fast bowling ( and hwo does not after 35 except steve waugh).
however, zaheer refused to play his last test match in karachi againt sri lanka as a protest against board policies (actually against then captin imran khan). he had already announced retirement but he wanted to continue play one day version of game. imran who was the captin did not like the idea and zaheer as a protest did not participate in his final test match. in short, zaheer had a full test career and he retired by his own choice.
Imran has a lot of praise for Zaheer and Majid but he has a role in ending their careers too. Having said this, I must add that both batsmen had well past their prime but perhaps it was their love for the game or a denial of the fact that were just shadows of their ownself, that we hanging on.
It was painful to see that the same Zaheer Abbas who had scored 274 and 240 in England against formidable attacks and who had countless classy innings to his credit, would sway from his stumps while facing mediocres like Jeof Lawson (Aus) and Ramesh Ratanaika (SL) in the last days of his career.
So I guess, regardless of the fact that Zaheer opted for it or if it was a forced retirement, the timing was not bad and we will still remember Zaheer for his classy style and prolific batting than what he was turning out to be in the last couple of years of his test career.
and considering all 3 were on 3 different grounds…