Hanif Mohammad, The Original ‘Little Master’ Succumbs To Cancer At Age 81

A spokesperson at the Aga Khan Hospital in Karachi has confirmed the demise of Cricketing legend Hanif Mohammad. He was 81.

Mr. Mohammad was suffering from lung cancer for some years now. He also underwent surgery to curb the lung cancer in 2013 at a London hospital. Three weeks back when his health deteriorated he was put on ventilator. Earlier today there was a rumour of his death when some doctors ‘misinformed his son Shoaib Mohammad about his passing away.

After the confirmation of the cricketers’ death, his son made a statement that his father’s namaz-e-janazah will be offered on Friday at Masjid-e-Noumani, Al-Hilal Society Karachi. Hanif’s career comprised of 55 Test matches including Pakistan’s first. His total of 3915 runs gives him the distinction of an average of 43.98. His personal best of 337 runs came when Pakistan saved the Barbados Test in 1958 while following on. At that time it was the highest Test score and the longest first-class innings. It is the longest innings till date with a total of 970 minutes.

His birth place is Junagarh, Gujarat from where he shifted to Pakistan after the partition. His was a family of cricketers. He or one of his five brothers was part of Pakistan’s first 101 Test matches. Hanif’s son Shoaib played 45 Tests and grandson Shehzar 30 first-class matches.

The international cricketing community recognises Hanif’s legendary contributions to the sport. His triple-century against the West Indies was a legendary innings which entitled him to be one of the original inductees into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.”

After his retirement from International cricket, Hanif Mohammad co-founded the magazine The Cricketer Pakistan in 1972 and kept on editing it for twenty years. 

11 Aug 2016
Team Rapid