Harsh Thakor
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- Oct 1, 2012
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I just cant express how sorry I was not to pay a biographical tribute to Asif Iqbal Rizvi on his 75 th birthday this year,on June 5th.Anyway we are still in the year of his 75th birth centenary,being born in 1943.Few cricketers have had such a great influence on the game from the sub-continent in playing and post-cricket days.In my view Asif Iqbal was a legend of the game with his statistical figures doing him no justice.After Gary Sobers he was the best no 6 batsmen for a long period .Few batsmen batted better with the tail or were as effective in reviving a sinking ship.
Asif's best test innings are comparable or on par with the best of Viv Richards or Sunil Gavaskar.His unbeaten 146 at the Oval in 1967 is rated by Late Learie Constantine as the best innings he ever saw.In that innings he revealed cricketing art in regions of the sublime.Later he scored a classic 175 in Dunedin in 1972-73, 152 n.o at Brisbane in 1976-77 ,120 at Sydney in 1976-77 ,135 at Kingston in 1977 and 135 at Perth in 1979.The most notable performances weer his knocks in Australia which ressurected his team from the grave to come withing touch distance of win and save the Brisbane test and his 120 at Sydney on a bouncy track which lifted Pakistan to the pinnacle of glory.Pakistan would never have achieved their first dawn rubber or test victory on Australian soil without the great contribution of Asif Iqbal.At Sydney he came in at a precarious 111-4 while at Adelaide he added a record partnership for the 9th wicket with Iqbal Qasim hat series defined anew epoch in Pakistan cricket where from a bunch of talented individuals they emerged into a team of world -beaters ranking amongst the top 3 sides in the world on par with Australia and West Indies.At Kingston his 135 was another classics scored on the fastest wicket in the world when world class players like Zaheer Abbas ,Javed Miandad and Majid Khan were struggling.He exhibited dazzling strokes all around the wicket.Earlier on a green top at Sydney Asif took Dennis Lillee to the sword.At Perth in 1979 on the fastest of tarcsk he scored another dazzling unbeaten 135.Asif also made a significant contribution to Pakistan winning their first series versus India at home in 1978-79 in historic partnerships with Zaheer Abbas in Lahore and Javed Miandad in Karachi.He also captured 53 wickets often making crucial breakthroughs.
Significantly he was the most succesful batsmen in Kerry Packer supertests often carrying the brunt of the team;s batting on his shoulders and outmanouvering the great Dennis Lillee.
As a skipper he was unsuccessful but led Pakistan to a semi-final berth in1979 prudential world cup and morally perform outstanding in 1975 inaugural world cup.Scored a fighting 52 in difficult conditions at Leeds and a dazzling 61 against Australia.
Morally to me Asif Iqbal was in the class of batsmen who averaged close to 45.To ressurect a team from the depths of despair Asif had the ability of Ian Chappel or Javed Miandad.In a crisis he was better than any Pakistani batsmen of his day..His strokes also posessed a characteristic feline grace and on his day he would simply blaze away like a bonfire. .Also one of the quickest runners between wickets.A very close contender for the best Pakistani cricketer of the 1970's. A great all-rounder at his best and in the later part of his carer became a truly great batsmen.May just miss out on the best 100 cricketers of all time .
As a batsmen in the class of a David Gower or Mark Waugh at his best.Amongst the top half dozen no 6 specialist batsmen of all time.I feel he would have feasted on ODI's had he played in later eras.
In his days of retirement invested a colossal amount of energy to give back what he got from the game and perhaps even surpassed it.A very fine critique of the game and I liked his commentary.
I hope we can commemorate him in this historic year on pakpassion.Hope we can remember his great contribution in shaping the game here.
Asif's best test innings are comparable or on par with the best of Viv Richards or Sunil Gavaskar.His unbeaten 146 at the Oval in 1967 is rated by Late Learie Constantine as the best innings he ever saw.In that innings he revealed cricketing art in regions of the sublime.Later he scored a classic 175 in Dunedin in 1972-73, 152 n.o at Brisbane in 1976-77 ,120 at Sydney in 1976-77 ,135 at Kingston in 1977 and 135 at Perth in 1979.The most notable performances weer his knocks in Australia which ressurected his team from the grave to come withing touch distance of win and save the Brisbane test and his 120 at Sydney on a bouncy track which lifted Pakistan to the pinnacle of glory.Pakistan would never have achieved their first dawn rubber or test victory on Australian soil without the great contribution of Asif Iqbal.At Sydney he came in at a precarious 111-4 while at Adelaide he added a record partnership for the 9th wicket with Iqbal Qasim hat series defined anew epoch in Pakistan cricket where from a bunch of talented individuals they emerged into a team of world -beaters ranking amongst the top 3 sides in the world on par with Australia and West Indies.At Kingston his 135 was another classics scored on the fastest wicket in the world when world class players like Zaheer Abbas ,Javed Miandad and Majid Khan were struggling.He exhibited dazzling strokes all around the wicket.Earlier on a green top at Sydney Asif took Dennis Lillee to the sword.At Perth in 1979 on the fastest of tarcsk he scored another dazzling unbeaten 135.Asif also made a significant contribution to Pakistan winning their first series versus India at home in 1978-79 in historic partnerships with Zaheer Abbas in Lahore and Javed Miandad in Karachi.He also captured 53 wickets often making crucial breakthroughs.
Significantly he was the most succesful batsmen in Kerry Packer supertests often carrying the brunt of the team;s batting on his shoulders and outmanouvering the great Dennis Lillee.
As a skipper he was unsuccessful but led Pakistan to a semi-final berth in1979 prudential world cup and morally perform outstanding in 1975 inaugural world cup.Scored a fighting 52 in difficult conditions at Leeds and a dazzling 61 against Australia.
Morally to me Asif Iqbal was in the class of batsmen who averaged close to 45.To ressurect a team from the depths of despair Asif had the ability of Ian Chappel or Javed Miandad.In a crisis he was better than any Pakistani batsmen of his day..His strokes also posessed a characteristic feline grace and on his day he would simply blaze away like a bonfire. .Also one of the quickest runners between wickets.A very close contender for the best Pakistani cricketer of the 1970's. A great all-rounder at his best and in the later part of his carer became a truly great batsmen.May just miss out on the best 100 cricketers of all time .
As a batsmen in the class of a David Gower or Mark Waugh at his best.Amongst the top half dozen no 6 specialist batsmen of all time.I feel he would have feasted on ODI's had he played in later eras.
In his days of retirement invested a colossal amount of energy to give back what he got from the game and perhaps even surpassed it.A very fine critique of the game and I liked his commentary.
I hope we can commemorate him in this historic year on pakpassion.Hope we can remember his great contribution in shaping the game here.
