Nazar Mohammad’s name is firmly embedded in the record books and folklore of Pakistan’s Test cricket history. His story is an amazing narrative of both promise and pain, played out against the backdrop of Pakistan’s efforts to establish its credentials as a major cricketing nation.
### Early Life and Family Background
Nazar was born in Lahore on March 5, 1921, the youngest of five brothers. At birth, his name was registered as Mohammad Nazir. Two of his elder brothers, Sharif and Sultan, were cricketers, with Sharif having represented Northern India in the Ranji Trophy. Another brother, Ferozuddin Ahmed, better known as Feroz Nizami, became a renowned music composer and director. In the music and film world, he was nicknamed the Ustad of Bombay and was the person who launched the career of Mohammad Rafi. After the creation of Pakistan, Feroz became one of the pioneers of the new nation’s film industry, producing many popular movies and musical hits. The fifth sibling, Siraj Nizami, was a well-known scholar and writer with a special interest in Sufism.
### Cricketing Beginnings
Nazar was a cricketing child prodigy and first attracted attention when he scored 217 for Islamia High School, Bhaati Gate, against the Sheranwala Gate branch of the same institution. After matriculation, he joined Islamia College, where he established an impressive reputation as a highly skilled opening batsman.
Nazar made his first-class debut in November 1940 when he was selected to play for Northern India in a Ranji Trophy match against the North-West Frontier Province. Due to the relative paucity of first-class cricket played in India at the time, Nazar only participated in three first-class matches in his inaugural season. Interestingly, in the third match between Northern India and a strong Maharashtra eleven, Nazar’s brother Mohammad Sharif was also in the Northern Indian side. While Nazar was dismissed for just 21, Sharif registered his maiden first-class hundred.
### Ranji Trophy Highlights
The following year’s Ranji Trophy competition began on a very positive note for Nazar. Playing for Northern India against the NWFP, Nazar and Jagdish Lal opened their team’s innings with a partnership of 273, compiled in just 207 minutes. Nazar went on to score 175 in a huge team total of 613 for 5 declared. Nazar’s brother Sharif also posted a noteworthy 93, and the two siblings shared a 42-run partnership for the fifth wicket. The Northern Indian side was captained by the famous Dr. Jahangir Khan, who also stroked a century. Jagdish’s son, Arun Lal, would play Test cricket for India many decades later.
Nazar played seven seasons of first-class cricket, from 1940-41 to 1946-47, in undivided India, for teams like Northern India, Muslims, and the North Zone. At the local level, he was a member of the Mamdot Club and played regularly for them at Lahore’s famous Minto Park, now known as Iqbal Park. It was during his playing days at the Minto Park that his name changed from his birth name of Mohammad Nazir to Nazar Mohammad.
### Career in Pakistan First-Class Cricket
First-class cricket in Pakistan started in December 1947. In the inaugural match between Punjab and Sindh, Nazar opened the batting for Punjab with Mian Mohammad Saeed. His knock of 42 helped to lay the foundations for a healthy team total of 421, which was enough to set up an innings victory for his side.
When the West Indies toured Pakistan in the winter of 1948 to play an unofficial Test, Nazar was selected for the national side and opened the batting with Imtiaz Ahmed. Their partnership of 148 was the first century stand for Pakistan in representative international cricket.
### Tours and Unofficial Tests
When Pakistan toured Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) in April 1949, Nazar was an automatic selection for the team. Pakistan won the first unofficial Test comfortably by an innings, though Nazar contributed just 29. However, in the second unofficial Test, Nazar was in scintillating form. In response to Sri Lanka’s score of 298, Nazar and Murawwat Hussain added 269 runs together for the second wicket in Pakistan’s total of 463, with Nazar making 170. Pakistan’s lead of 165 runs enabled the tourists to achieve a 10-wicket win.
Later that year, a Commonwealth team—including the likes of Frank Worrell, Bill Alley, and George Tribe—played a single international game against the Pakistan team and inflicted a surprisingly comprehensive defeat on them, winning by an innings and 177 runs. Nazar salvaged some pride for the home team by being the top-scorer in both Pakistani innings, with scores of 60 and 31, respectively.
In March 1950, Pakistan played host to Sri Lanka, who were reciprocating Pakistan’s visit to the island a year earlier. Nazar represented Pakistan in one of the two unofficial Tests, sharing a 61-run opening partnership with Imtiaz Ahmed, as Pakistan secured an innings victory over the visitors.
### The Historic MCC Tour of 1951
The year 1951 was a momentous one in the history of Pakistan cricket. The MCC (as touring England national teams were then called) was on a five-Test trip to India and made a three-week detour to Pakistan in November and December to play two unofficial Tests and some side matches.
They began the Pakistan leg of their tour with a match against Punjab in Sialkot. Nazar, who opened the batting for the home team, made a classic 140. Interestingly, he shared a century stand for the fifth wicket with Ahmed Raza, three of whose nephews would go on to play for Pakistan and captain the national Test team as well—namely Javed Burki, Majid Khan, and Imran Khan.
In the first unofficial Test against the MCC at the Bagh-e-Jinnah in Lahore, Nazar had a new opening partner called Hanif Mohammad. This 16-year-old prodigy was making his first-class debut and helped Nazar put on an opening wicket stand of 96. Nazar made a polished 66, laying a strong base which Pakistan used to run up a total of 428 in reply to the MCC’s 254. As the pitch eased out, the MCC were able to easily overcome this first innings deficit of 174, scoring 368 runs for the loss of just one wicket as the match ended in a tame draw. Pakistan won the second unofficial Test at Karachi, opening the door for their entry into the elite group of Test-playing nations.
### Pakistan’s Historic Test Status and Indian Tour (1952-53)
After acquiring Test status in July 1952, Pakistan set out on a tour of India in the winter of 1952-53 that included five Tests and seven additional first-class matches against zonal and leading local teams. This tour proved to be the peak of Nazar’s career.
Nazar’s partnership with Hanif at the top of Pakistan’s batting order began to play a key role in Pakistan’s performance. In the opening match of the tour against the North Zone, these two batsmen added 88 runs for the first wicket in Pakistan’s second innings. This drawn match is still remembered as the one in which the 17-year-old Hanif became the youngest player in the world to score a century in each innings of a first-class game.
#### Test Performances
– **1st Test at Delhi:** The Nazar-Hanif pair gave Pakistan a steady start with a stand of 64 runs before Nazar was run out. Though their efforts were unable to save Pakistan from an innings defeat, on a personal level Nazar established a few records: he became the first Pakistani batsman to face a ball in Test cricket, scored Pakistan’s first Test run, and caught Vijay Manjrekar off Amir Elahi’s bowling, becoming the first Pakistani to hold a catch in a Test match.
– **2nd Test at Lucknow:** Pakistan won by an innings, and Nazar shone bright. He became Pakistan’s first Test centurion with a knock of 124 not out and the first Pakistani batsman to carry his bat through an entire completed Test innings. He also earned the distinction of becoming the first ever Test cricketer to stay on the ground for the entire duration of a Test match. His innings was a masterclass in technique and patience, reaching his century in seven and a half hours and staying at the crease for eight hours and thirty-five minutes. His partnership with Hanif yielded another 50-run plus stand.
Nazar carried his good form into side games against Mumbai and the South Zone, scoring a fifty against Mumbai and sharing an opening partnership of 88 with Hanif. Against South Zone, both scored centuries in a huge opening-wicket partnership of 248.
– **5th and Final Test at Eden Gardens, Kolkata:** Nazar finished his Test career with scores of 55 and 47, and yet another substantial partnership with Hanif of 94 runs in Pakistan’s first innings. In a unique occurrence, Nazar was also asked to open the bowling for Pakistan in India’s second innings, giving him the rare honor of opening both the bowling and batting in the same Test match.
Pakistan’s final first-class match of the tour was against the East Zone at Jamshedpur. This was the last first-class match of Nazar’s career, and he graced it with a stylish innings of 123.
In total, Nazar scored 687 first-class runs on this Indian tour at an average of 45.80, including three centuries.
### Later Career and Untimely End
Upon returning to Pakistan, Nazar played another three-day match for the Pakistan Eaglets against Azam Khan’s Eleven and scored a century, although this match has not been recognized as first-class.
Just when it seemed Nazar was at the peak of his powers and poised to achieve further honours, tragedy struck. As the story goes, Nazar would often visit his brother Feroz Nizami at his workplace in the film studios of Lahore. There, he met Pakistan’s legendary singer Madam Noor Jehan, and they struck up a close friendship or dalliance.
One day, while Nazar was with Noor Jehan in an upstairs hotel room, her husband Shaukat Husain Rizvi arrived with a firearm. Nazar made a hasty exit by jumping out of a window, badly fracturing his forearm. Complications during healing caused the broken arm to end up shorter than the other, effectively bringing Nazar’s cricketing career to a halt in its very prime.
### Skills and Legacy
Nazar was not only a highly skilled and technically gifted batsman but also a superb fielder, especially in the gully region. He was dubbed the “Prince of the Gully” by Indian commentators during his tour of India. He could also bowl leg-spin and googlies as well as medium pace.
Even after his playing career ended, Nazar stayed engaged with cricket. As an umpire, he officiated in 57 first-class matches between 1957 and 1978. He also served as a national coach from 1959 to 1981, mentoring several players including his own son Mudassar Nazar.
Mudassar would go on to emulate his father’s feat of carrying his bat through an entire completed Test innings when he made 152 not out versus India at the Gaddafi Stadium in January 1983. This remains the only occasion in Test cricket history when a father and son achieved this distinction.
### Family and Personal Life
Nazar Muhammad had three sons and four daughters. The oldest son, Mubashir Nazar, played a few seasons of first-class cricket for the Income Tax Department in the late 1970s, while the youngest, Mufassir Nazar, shone in school cricket in Lahore. Mudassar was a regular member of the national side for over ten years, playing 76 Tests for Pakistan. A nephew, Azmat Hussain Nizami, son of his brother Mohammad Sharif, represented Lahore in a solitary first-class match in 1967-68.
A man of great personal charm and bonhomie, Nazar was also a great raconteur of cricketing stories. He was a gifted singer who, after a tiring day’s play, would regale his colleagues and friends with his lilting voice. He even recorded a few duets with Madam Noor Jehan but chose to pursue cricket as his preferred career.
### Passing
Nazar Mohammad passed away on July 12, 1996, at the age of 75.
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*Dr. Salman Faridi is a senior surgeon, poet, sports aficionado, and an avid reader with a private collection of over 7,000 books.*
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