Lahore, 22 November (HS). Former Pakistan off-spinner and umpire Mohammad Nazir has passed away. Nazir, popularly known as Nazir Junior, died in Lahore after a prolonged illness. He was 78 years old.
He played 14 Test and four ODI matches for Pakistan. He is best remembered for his brilliant innings in his first Test match against New Zealand in October 1969.
Playing in Karachi on a pitch that took spin from the start, Nazir took 7 wickets for 99 runs in his first innings. Apart from this, he scored 29 unbeaten runs with the bat and also remained unbeaten on 17 runs in the second innings. The Test match was drawn, but it proved to be an important match, as it was the last Test of the great Hanif Mohammad, and the first of his younger brother Sadiq.
PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi said, on behalf of the PCB, I express our condolences and sorrow on the demise of our former Test cricketer Mohammad Nazir. We express our deepest condolences and share our grief with his friends and family. His contribution to Pakistan cricket will always be remembered.
Despite consistently performing well at domestic level, Nazir played only one more Test after his debut series until November 1980, when he was selected to play in the home series against the West Indies. This was another high point; He dismissed Viv Richards three times in the series, including twice bowled. However, in the second Test in Faisalabad, Nazir was hit for three consecutive sixes in an over by Sylvester Clarke. He gave 22 runs in that over, which was a Test record at that time.
Despite taking 16 wickets in four Tests against the West Indies, Nazir was dropped again and made his comeback in a series in India almost three years later. Meanwhile, he continued to take wickets in domestic cricket: 86 in 1981–82 and 70 the following year.
Nazir took the last five wickets of his three Test matches at Nagpur, but played only three Tests thereafter – all in Australia. He was not in the winning team in even one of his 14 Test matches.
After this Nazir continued playing in the domestic circuit. In the 1985–86 season, when he was about to turn 40, he took 85 wickets. Nazir took 829 first-class wickets at an impressive average of 19.26.
He became an international and domestic umpire soon after retiring, officiating in five Tests and 15 ODIs.
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Hindusthan News / Sunil Dubey
