(17 January 1925 – 21 April 1996)
Abdul Hafeez Kardar was Pakistan cricketer, one of the only three players to have played Test cricket for both India and Pakistan, the other two being Amir Elahi and Gul Mohammad. Kardar, born on January 17, 1925, became the first captain of the Pakistan cricket team and was widely regarded as a father figure of Pakistan cricket and, as such, an important character in the history of the country as a whole. Born in a cricketing family, he was educated at Islamia College Lahore. He played domestic cricket for a variety of teams, including: Oxford University, Northern India and Muslims. He was one of the few players of his generation who played for India in Tests against England (1946 tour), and following the independence representing Pakistan. After the 1946 tour, he stayed in England and went to Oxford to enhance his reputation as an idiosyncratic and fearless cricketer.
Kardar was a left-handed batsman, whose response to any bowler or situation was to dance down the track first ball and slam it back over the bowler’s head, and a left-arm medium-paced bowler, economical on a good pitch, devastatingly effective on a bad one. Kardar had a couple of productive seasons with Warwickshire, where his successes included marrying the club chairman’s daughter, then returned to Pakistan to take on the captaincy.
He captained Pakistan in their first Test match in 1952 and was at the forefront of events from then until he resigned from the Pakistan Cricket Board in 1977 in protest against the government interference. Kardar led the team that played their first official Test series touring India in 1952-53. Kardar fielded his men against Lala Amarnath’s Indian team. Although India won in Delhi and Bombay and won the series, Kardar’s Pakistan achieved their first Test victory in only the second Test in Lucknow. Kardar had learned well under Martin Donnelly and Tom Dollery and, as Test cricket’s newcomers, Pakistan at once made themselves worthy of respect rather than anyone’s sympathy. In 23 matches as captain, Kardar led his team to victory over all the then Test-playing countries except South Africa, whom they never met. Kardar’s last tour was in 1957 to the West Indies, where he elected to play despite having a broken finger, defying medical advice, bowled 37 overs and scored 57.
He then became chairman of selectors, and president of Pakistan’s Board of Control from 1972 to 1977. In all his positions of authority, he was inclined to be dictatorial and quickly angered, especially by any hint of criticism. In some ways, his prickly brilliance has become characteristic of his country’s cricket. But he was also a visionary. He ruthlessly modernised the organisation of the Pakistan game, and many of the themes he was advocating in the 1970s have become common currency among modern administrators: the need to do away with unwieldy committees, to break the post-imperial dominance of Lord’s, and to expand the game in Asia. He was an early advocate of neutral umpires.
Little of this was well received by his colleagues on International Cricket Council (ICC) at the time. In later years he removed himself from cricket and his last public role was as Pakistan’s ambassador to Switzerland. Diplomacy may not have come easily to him. Imran Khan said: “After Kardar’s retirement, Pakistan cricket was thrown to the wolves, the cricket bureaucrats whose progeny still rule the game.” He also entered politics as a member of the Punjab Provincial Assembly, becoming Minister of Food, supporting the Bhutto party and fighting fiercely against what he considered to be political interference in the administration of cricket. One critic wrote: “He was never one to cloud an issue with goodwill if it could be avoided.” He scored almost 7,000 runs, at an average of 29 and took 344 wickets at 24, with 108 catches, but such figures are peripheral in the memory of one of cricket’s outstanding and memorable characters. Kardar died on April 21 in 1996, aged 71.
Published in Daily Times, June 22nd, 2017.