Hanif Mohammad

Personal information
Full name	Hanif Mohammad
Born	(1934-12-21) 21 December 1934 Junagadh, Junagadh State, British India
Nickname	Little Master
Height
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm off break
Role	Batsman
International information
National side	Pakistan
Test debut (cap 4)	16 October 1952 v India
Last Test	24 October 1969 v New Zealand
Career statistics
Competition Tests FC Matches 55 238 Runs scored 3,915 17,059 Batting average 43.98 52.32 100s/50s 12/15 55/66 Top score 337 499 Balls bowled 206 2766 Wickets 1 53 Bowling average 95.00 28.49 5 wickets in innings 0 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 Best bowling 1/1 3/4 Catches/stumpings 40/– 178/12
Source: Cricinfo, 3 August 2008

Pride of Performance Award Recipient
Date	1958
Country	Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Presented by	Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Official website	<strong%20class= "error"><span%20class="scribunto-error"%20id="mw-scribunto-error-1">Lua%20error%20in%20Module:Wikidata%20at%20line%20446:%20attempt%20to%20index%20field%20'wikibase'%20(a%20nil%20value). http://<strong%20class="error"><span%20class="scribunto-error"%20id="mw-scribunto-error-1">Lua%20error%20in%20Module:Wikidata%20at%20line%20446:%20attempt%20to%20index%20field%20'wikibase'%20(a%20nil%20value).

Hanif Mohammad (Urdu: حنیف محمد‎, born 21 December 1934) is a former Pakistan cricketer. He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between 1952/53 and 1969/70 and averaged 43.98, with twelve hundreds. At his peak, he was considered one of the best batsmen in the world. Regrettably, he played for Pakistan at a time when there was very little Test cricket being played by Pakistan, with just 55 Test matches in a career spanning 17 years.

Hanif was trained by Abdul Aziz, an Afghani cricket player, who had earlier played in Ranji Trophy for Jamnagar and father of Indian cricketer, Salim Durani.

The highest of Hanif's Test centuries was a famous 337 made against West Indies in a six-day test at Bridgetown in 1957/58. After Pakistan found itself following on from a first-innings deficit of 473 runs on the afternoon of the third day, Hanif spent more than sixteen hours at the crease compiling his runs, allowing Pakistan to draw the game. It remains the longest innings in Test history (and stood as the longest in all first-class cricket for over 40 years). It was the only Test match instance of a triple century in a team's second innings until it was equaled by New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum against India in 2014. Displays such as this earned him the nickname "Little Master".

In 1958/59, he surpassed Don Bradman's record for the highest individual first-class innings. Hanif made 499 before being run out attempting his five hundredth run; this mark stood for more than 35 years before being passed by Brian Lara in 1994. In all he made 55 first-class centuries and finished with a strong first-class career average of 52.32. He could bowl with either arm, and kept wicket on a number of occasions.He is known to have played the slowest test innings when he scored 20 off 223 balls at a strike rate of 8.968

Hanif's career lasted until 1975/76, but he never played in the English County Championship, although he did have a single outing for the Northamptonshire Second XI in August 1965 whilst preparing for his appearance for a Rest of the World XI against England at the Scarborough Festival a few days later. Hanif was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1968. In January 2009, Hanif was named along with two other Pakistani players, Imran Khan and Javed Miandad among the inaugural batch of 55 inductees into the ICC's Hall of Fame.

In a Test match against Australia, Hanif scored a century in the first innings. In the second innings he was wrongly given stumped out by Barry Jarman off the bowling of Tom Veivers for 93, just 7 runs shy of his second century in the Test. Hanif respected the umpire's decision. Later in a press conference Jarman admitted that Hanif was not out.

Family members

Many of Hanif's brothers and son were also cricketers: his brothers Mushtaq, Sadiq and Wazir all played Tests for Pakistan, as did his son Shoaib, another brother Raees was once twelfth man for Pakistan, and four nephews had first-class careers. His mother Ameer Bee was a national badminton champion in pre-independence India.

File:Hanif Mohammad Graph.png

Hanif Mohammad's career performance graph.

External links

• Player profile: Hanif Mohammad from ESPNcricinfo
• Ramachandra Guha : The original little master

Sporting positions
Preceded by Javed Burki	Pakistan Cricket Captain 1964–1967	Succeeded by Saeed Ahmed
Records
Preceded by Don Bradman	Highest individual score in first-class cricket 499 Karachi v Bahawalpur at Karachi 1958–59	Succeeded by Brian Lara