Daily Times

LAHORE: Fazal Mahmood, Pakistan cricket’s first superstar, was formally inducted into the PCB Hall of Fame posthumously when PCB chief executive Faisal Hasnain presented a commemoration cap to his daughter Shaista Mahmood and a plaque to his son Shahzad Mahmood in a ceremony that took place ahead of Pakistan Super League 7 Eliminator 2 at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday.Fazal was the first Pakistan cricketer to be named in Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year in 1955 following his heroics on the 1954 tour of England when he took 20 wickets in a four-Test series, including figures of six for 53 and six for 46 that helped Pakistan win The Oval Test by 24 runs.A couple of years earlier and on Pakistan’s first tour to India as a Test nation in 1952, Fazal had picked up five for 52 and seven for 42 that earned his side an innings and 43 runs victory in Lucknow. In the 1956 Test against Australia in Karachi, Fazal had figures of six for 34 and seven for 80 as Pakistan beat Ian Johnson’s Australia by nine wickets.

Fazal’s varied swing and a mixture of leg-cutters were too much to handle for the West Indies as the maestro picked up 20 wickets in the 1957-58 series in the Caribbean and then followed up with 21 wickets in three Tests in the 1958-59 series at home.Fazal, who took 139 wickets in 34 Tests, was bestowed with the President’s Pride of Performance Award – the highest national literary award of Pakistan – in 1958. In 2012, he was posthumously awarded the Hilal-e-Imtiaz – the second highest civilian award – in recognition of his services to Pakistan cricket, seven years after his passing on May 30, 2005.