KARACHI: Waqar Hasan, the last surviving member of Pakistan’s inaugural Test team, which played India in Delhi in October 1952, has died in Karachi at the age of 87. A middle-order batsman, Waqar’s first outing in Test cricket wasn’t too auspicious, as he scored 8 and 5 in an innings defeat, but he ended the five-Test series as Pakistan’s highest run-maker, with 357 runs at an average of 44.62, including three half-centuries. He was also the member of the Pakistan side which recorded a historic win over England at The Oval in 1954 by 24 runs. Waqar went on to play 21 Test matches during the course of a first-class career that spanned more than a decade and a half, from 1948-49 to 1965-66. He finished with 1071 runs in 35 Test innings, an average of 31.50, and hit a century and six half-centuries. His first-class average was 35.64. “Waqar Hassan was an attractive strokemaker, who was ideal in a crisis and a fine field either at cover or further out,” Christopher Martin-Jenkins wrote of Waqar in World Cricketers: A Biographical Dictionary (Oxford, 1996). Originally from Lahore, Waqar shifted to Karachi in 1945 after being offered a job with the Public Works Department, and by the early 1960s, he launched a textile machinery business. The reason, as he explained, was financial. “I had lost my regular place in the Test team but my main reason for quitting cricket after the 1959-60 season was financial,” he had said. “I opted out at the age of 27 to establish my business. I had seen the likes of Amir Elahi and Wazir Ali living not-so-happy lives in their later years.” He did, however, return to the game for a brief fling as a player. Following retirement, Waqar continued to serve Pakistan cricket in various administrative roles, including chair of the national selection committee in 1982-83. PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani said: “It is a sad day for Pakistan cricket as today we have lost our last hero who put us on the world cricket map in 1952. He was from that elite group cricketers that laid the foundation of what turned into a proud cricket nation. I had the privilege of knowing him personally and I have nothing but utmost respect for Waqar. Waqar was not only an outstanding cricketer but a thorough gentleman who set very high standards. He was an articulate and smart cricket administrator who contributed in Pakistan with his wisdom and progressive approach and vision. On behalf of the PCB, I offer my deepest condolences to Waqar Hasan’s family and friends, and assure them that Waqar will always be remembered for the immense contribution he made to Pakistan cricket.”