Continuing from the previous piece in which we spoke about Majid Khan and Mohammad Yousuf as two of the best Pakistani batsmen ever, we continue with our next couple.
Zaheer Abbas:
Sanjay Manjrekar while commentating made a remark about Zaheer Abbas: “he used to make double centuries against India and when he made only centuries the Indians celebrated”. Nicknamed as “Asian Bradman” internationally and called “run making machine” locally, not much explanation is needed after this. Zaheer was solid middle order with slightly unorthodox technique.
He scored runs all over the globe and on some difficult tracks in England. He remained composed and held innings together when flurry of wickets would fall around him. Zaheer had a Test average of 44.79 and ODI average of 47.62 in the 70s and 80s which is more than commendable. It included playing against hostile West Indian pace and accurate Indian spin bowling.
He is only Asian cricketer to date with 100 centuries in first class cricket. He had a brief spell of captaincy when Imran Khan got injured, his spell as skipper was short and Javed Miandad took over very soon.
Saeed Ahmed: Perhaps the least hyped but earning an equally well placed slot amongst the top batsmen the country has made. Saeed Ahmed was an authoritative top and middle order batsman for Pakistan. Intikhab Alam and A.H Kardar the two captains he played under regarded him as the Pakistan’s first number three batsman of class.
An elegant and tall player, driving back past bowler through mid on and mid off was his favorite shot, Saeed also bowled decent off spinners.
He had a decent average of 40 in Tests. Saeed is notoriously remembered for pulling out of third Test allegedly pretending back injury against Australia following a spat with Lille.
The Pakistan management punished him for disruptive behavior and sent him home. Nevertheless, Saeed’s 508 runs on his first tour to the Caribbean against frightening West Indian pace attack seems very unlikely to be duplicated and much less likely to be surpassed, by any of his countrymen.