Notable Pakistani cricketers

Batsmen

Famous Pakistani batsman;

• Hanif Mohammad
• Mushtaq Mohammad
• Saeed Ahmed
• Zaheer Abbas
• Asif Iqbal
• Majid Khan
• Sadiq Mohammad
• Javed Miandad
• Mudassar Nazar
• Shoaib Mohammad
• Mohsin Khan
• Inzamam-Ul-Haq
• Aamer Sohail
• Saeed Anwar
• Saleem Malik
• Ijaz Ahmed
• Mohammad Yousuf
• Younis Khan

Batting records

• Hanif Mohammad scored 337 against the West Indies in 1958, the first triple hundred by an Asian cricketer, and at the time the longest innings by any batsman in terms of time spent at the wicket.
• Hanif also held the record for the highest individual first class innings for just over 35 years, 499 runs, until Brian Lara scored 501 for Warwickshire in 1994.
• Saeed Anwar holds the record for scoring the highest ODI innings against the Indian cricket team (194) at Chennai in 1997.
• Mohammad Yousuf holds the record for the most Test match runs in a calendar year (1788), the most centuries in a calendar year (nine) and the most centuries in successive tests (six centuries in five successive tests).

Fast bowlers

Famous Pakistani fast bowlers;

• Imran Khan
• Wasim Akram
• Aaqib Javed
• Waqar Younis
• Fazal Mahmood
• Sarfraz Nawaz
• Shoaib Akhtar
• Mohammad Sami
• Rana Naved-ul-Hasan
• Umar Gul
• Mohammad Asif

Bowling records

• Wasim Akram has taken 502 ODI wickets, the most in ODI cricket.
• Shoaib Akhtar holds the record for the fastest delivery recorded, clocked at 100.2 Miles/H.

Spin Bowlers

Famous Pakistani spin bowlers;

• Intikhab Alam
• Iqbal Qasim
• Abdul Qadir
• Mushtaq Ahmed
• Saqlain Mushtaq
• Danish Kaneria
• Tauseef Ahmed
• Shahid Afridi

Notes:

• Saqlain Mushtaq is credited with inventing the delivery now known as the doosra, and is regarded as one of the best off-spin bowlers in cricket history

All rounders

Well known Pakistani all-rounders

• Imran Khan
• Aamer Sohail
• Moin Khan
• Abdul Razzaq
• Shahid Afridi
• Kamran Akmal
• Shoaib Malik
• Wasim Akram
• Azhar Mahmood

Records:

• Shahid Afridi holds the record for the fastest ODI century reaching the milestone off just 37 balls and also equalled the second fastest ODI century (45 balls).

Reverse swing

Reverse swing was first discovered by Sarfraz Nawaz in the 1970s, who then passed it on to another Pakistani bowler, Imran Khan. Khan mastered reverse swing and the evidence of reverse swing by him was seen in 1983 in a Test match against India at Karachi, where he took 5 wickets in 25 balls. Imran Khan subsequently passed this skill on to Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram who are considered to have been the finest exponents of the art.

On Pakistan's 1992 tour of England, the England had no answer to the reverse swing, a new phenomenon to them. Pakistan won the series 2-1. The series was controversial one as the Pakistani team were accused of ball tampering, particularly by the English media.

Reverse swing soon expanded around the cricket world and more bowlers, including those from England, mastered the art.

Current Team

The team's coach is currently Bob Woolmer, who succeded Javed Miandad.

Trivia

• Abdul Jalil aka Chacha cricket (photo) has been following the team since 1969. The PCB pays him 10,000 Pakistani rupees per month to follow the team, and he himself has a number of his own followers.
• Pakistan are the only cricket team to lose a test match by forfeiture. They did so against England at The Oval on the 20 August, 2006, following a refusal to play, in protest of their penalty of 5 runs, the changing of the ball that they were using, for being accused of unfairly altering the condition of the ball.However the jury later decided that the ball was not tampered but charged captain Inzamam-ul-Haq with bringing the game into disrepute.