Time was when brothers named Hanif Mohammad ,Wazir Mohammad ,Musthaq Mohammad and $adiq Mohammad all star batsmen belonging to Karachi had made it to test cricket team of Pakistan. Their fifth brother Rais Mohammad however could not make it to the test team. They were known as Mohammad brothers in cricket parlance. Later on Shoaib Mohammad, son of Hanif Mohammad did make it to our test team but could not retain permanent position in it as a batsman like his father who was known as little master because of his small height. The other day Wazir Mohammad who was settled in England died in Birmingham. Out of these brothers only Musthaq and Sadiq are alive now Hanif Mohammad who used to open innings of Pakistan alongwith Alimuddin for a fairly long long time was one of the best opening batsman ever produced by Pakistan. He had joined the great majority a couple of years back.
In their heyday only test cricket used to be played and the ODIs and 20 twenty matches had not yet made their advent.
Cricket observers believe that after Abdul Hafeez Kardar, a captain of his stature was not seen by Pakistan cricket team. He was respected and feared by his team mates at the same time. Though he was an average all-rounder but as an administrator he was par excellence and under his captaincy Pakistan cricket team had beaten all the test cricket teams of his time.
In the same manner medium pacer Fazal Mahmood was a star bowler of Pakistan for a long time . He was instrumental in beating England’s cricket team in 1954 in its home ground at Oval London in 1954 where his leg cutters were unplayable and England’s batsmen collapsed on account of them like a house of cards. He was then acclaimed as Oval hero. In the initial days of Pakistan’s cricket some other players worth mentioning are Imtiaz Ahmad, Waqar Hasan, Khan Mohammad, Maqsood Ahmad, Shujauddin and Walis Mathais all dead now .
