Zaheer Abbas

Syed Zaheer Abbas Kirmani (in Punjabi and Urdu: سید ظہیر عباس کرمانی; born 24 July 1947), popularly known as Zaheer Abbas, is a former Pakistani cricketer. He is among few professional cricketers who used to wear spectacles. In 1982/1983, he became the first batsman to score three consecutive centuries in one-day internationals.[1] Sometimes known as 'the Asian Bradman', Zaheer Abbas is regarded as one of the finest batsmen in the history of cricket.[2][3][4] In August 2020, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.[5]

Zaheer Abbas
ظہیر عباس

Personal information
Full name	Syed Zaheer Abbas
Born	24 July 1947 Sialkot, Punjab, British India
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm offbreak
International information
National side	Pakistan (1969-1985)
Test debut (cap 63)	24 October 1969 v New Zealand
Last Test	27 October 1985 v Sri Lanka
ODI debut (cap 13)	31 August 1974 v England
Last ODI	3 November 1985 v Sri Lanka
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC Matches 78 62 457 Runs scored 5,062 2,572 34,843 Batting average 44.79 47.62 51.54 100s/50s 12/20 7/13 108/158 Top score 274 153 492 Balls bowled 370 280 2,582 Wickets 3 7 30 Bowling average 44.00 31.85 38.20 5 wickets in innings 0 0 1 10 wickets in match 0 0 0 Best bowling 2/21 2/26 5/15 Catches/stumpings 34/– 16/– 278/–
Source: CricketArchive, 6 November 2005

Career

Abbas made his Test match debut in 1969; in his second Test he scored 274 against England, which is still the sixth-ever highest score by a Pakistani batsman. This was the first of his four Test double-centuries; only two men from Pakistan (Younis Khan and Javed Miandad) have scored more.[6] The last was an innings of 215 against India in 1983, the first of three centuries in consecutive Tests, and his hundredth first-class century; Abbas and Geoffrey Boycott are the only two batsmen to have scored their hundredth first-class century in a Test match.[7]

Abbas had great success in first-class cricket, and was the first Asian batsman to score one hundred first-class centuries.[8] He had a long stint with Gloucestershire; joining the county in 1972, he remained there for thirteen years. During that time he scored over a thousand runs in the majority of his thirteen seasons. He also made over two thousand runs in a single season on two occasions for the club (1976 and 1981). During those thirteen years at Gloucestershire, he played 206 first-class games, scoring over 16,000 runs. He averaged 49.79, hitting 49 hundreds and 76 fifties. Abbas is the only player to have scored a century and double century in a first-class match four times, finishing each of the eight innings not out.[9]

Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian Test captain, once said while commentating that the Indian players would often say to Zaheer, "Zaheer Ab-bas karo", which means "Zaheer, stop it now" in Urdu and Hindi, referring to Abbas' free scoring.

Abbas had two stints as captain of the national team in 1981 and 1984. He retired from international cricket in 1985, and has officiated as a match referee in one Test and three ODI matches. He has also worked as the manager of the national team. In 2015 he became ICC president, the third cricketer after Colin Cowdrey and Clyde Walcott, to hold the post.[10]

Zaheer Abbas held the record for scoring the most runs by any batsman in a 4 match bilateral ODI series (346 runs) from 1982 to 2015.[11] The record was broken by Hashim Amla of South Africa in 2015.[12]

Zaheer Abbas's career performance graph.

Personal life

Zaheer Abbas married Indian born Rita Luthra (now known as Samina Abbas) in 1988.[13] Samina's father KC Luthra was a friend of Zaheer's father, Shabbir Abbas.[14] Their daughter Sonal Abbas is married to a businessman in Delhi.

Autobiography

In 1983 he co-wrote his autobiography Zed with the British cricket journalist David Foot.

Awards and recognition

• Pride of Performance Award in 1971 by the Government of Pakistan[15]
• Inducted in ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2020.[16]

References

1. Hundreds in consecutive innings espncricinfo.com Retrieved 7 July 2019
2. "Zaheer Abbas". Cricinfo.
3. Vaidya, Nishad Pai (24 July 2015). "Zaheer Abbas: 10 anecdotes about the Asian Bradman".
4. "Asian Bradman Zaheer Abbas celebrating 70th birthday today - Samaa TV". www.samaa.tv. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
5. "Jacques Kallis, Zaheer Abbas and Lisa Sthalekar enter ICC's Hall of Fame". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
6. "Test Records – Most double hundreds in a career". cricinfo.com website. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
7. "1st Test, India tour of Pakistan at Lahore, Dec 10-15 1982 - Match Summary - ESPNCricinfo". ESPNcricinfo.
8. "Most centuries in first-class cricket".
9. Lynch, Steven. "How many people have scored a double-century and a hundred in the same first-class match?". Ask Steven - Cricinfo.com. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
10. Abbasi, Kamran (13 August 2015). "In praise of Zed". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
11. "HowSTAT! ODI Cricket – Most Runs in Series". www.howstat.com. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
12. "Batting records | One-Day Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com". Cricinfo. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
13. "Zaheer Abbas to visit Kanpur sasural for ODI".
14. "Teaming up for life".
15. Pride of Performance Award for Zaheer Abbas in 1971 on Pakistan Sports Board website Retrieved 7 July 2019
16. "Zaheer Abbas inducted into ICC Hall of Fame". The News International. Retrieved 26 August 2020.

External links

• Zaheer Abbas at ESPNcricinfo