Written by: Muhammad Suhayb
Posted on: November 18, 2022 | 
| 中文
Abdul Qadir
Abdul Qadir, the man who revived the art of leg spin, was recently inducted in the ICC Hall of Fame. Born in September 1955 in Lahore, Qadir mesmerized the crowd with his antics as well as his heroics. He made a huge impact on the game, and saved leg spin bowling from extinction. Kids born in the 70s, preferred to become fast bowlers due to the glamor of the pacers, on and off the field. Becoming spinner was always the third option for kids growing in the 70s.
Usman Qadir receiving Abdul Qadir's ICC Hall of Fame award along with other award winners, S. Chanderpaul and Charlotte Edwards
It was in the days when Friday used to be the off day in Pakistan, limited overs cricket was still played in whites, former Prime Minister Imran Khan was the captain of the Cricket team and the mighty West Indies were still a force to reckon with. On October 16th, 1987, Pakistan was chasing 217 runs to win against two-time World Champions, West Indies. The wizard Abdul Qadir was facing dangerous Courtney Walsh, and the hosts needed 10 off the last three deliveries. Walsh had already dismissed Imran Khan, Salim Yousuf, Ijaz Ahmed and Saleem Malik in the match. The last wicket was at the crease and a dismissal could take West Indies to the top of the table. The buoyant Qadir hit the ball over the fence, reducing the deficit to 4 off 2. A demoralized Walsh lost his focus and Pakistan knocked the finalists of three World Cups out of the megaevent. Qadir had the nerves of steel that never crumbled under pressure, be it batting or his primary talent, bowling.
Popular for his fairly long run-up, he made ‘leg spin’ an integral part of the bowling arsenal. He had a lethal flipper, googlies of different variations, a top-spinner and a sharp leg spin up his sleeve. He made his test debut in 1977-78 against England under Wasim Bari, who was captaining the side in the absence of other senior players. For the early part of his career, the master spinner was under-utilized, as the captains of that time had belief in him, or the spin bowling per se. A demoralized Qadir was about to quit the game, when Imran Khan was made the captain in 1981-82. With a new setup in place and under a new leader, Qadir regained his confidence. He bamboozled the Aussies and took 22 wickets in a test series played in Pakistan in the summer of 1982. This performance was brilliant, because it was the time when using spinners as an attacking option was not done, and they were only used to halt the flow of runs and give a break to the fast bowlers.
Abdul Qadir and Imran Khan
Qadir’s introduction to One Day Internationals (ODIs) cricket is rather impressive. When Imran went solely as a batsman to play the 1983 World Cup, Qadir was inducted in the ODI team. He scored an unbeaten 41 and got 4 wickets on his debut match against New Zealand, solidifying his position with a fifer in the third match. He was the first superstar spinner in the shorter format of the game, who used to trick the batsmen with his deliveries and many of his appeals were turned down, as the umpires themselves could not read his balls.
In a decade-long career of ODI cricket (1983-1993), he managed to capture 126 wickets in 104 ODIs, with an average of 26. Four times he took four wickets in an innings, the last time was against England at Rawalpindi during the World Cup in 1987. With Imran Khan out of the field due to food poisoning, Javed Miandad used Qadir to perfection. It was the last over of the spinner that completely destroyed the English middle order. That was the earliest example of using a spinner in the death overs of an ODI.
Abdul Qadir (third from right) with Pakistani test cricketers
Due to this particular performance, Miandad made sure Qadir was part of the squad that played tests against England. With Imran Khan retiring after the World Cup, Qadir under Javed Miandad returned with the magical figures of 9/56. This is still the best bowling figures by a Pakistani in a completed test inning. Overall, Qadir managed thirty wickets in a three-match series altogether. Just a year earlier, his spell of 6/16 helped Pakistan register their first victory at home against West Indies in 1986, while his ten wickets at Oval in 1987, helped Pakistan seal the series victory. Qadir last represented Pakistan in a Test in 1990, and in 13 years, managed 236 wickets in 67 tests at an average of 32. With 15 five-wicket hauls and 5 ten wickets in a match, Qadir stands tall amongst the legends of the game.
An injury kept him from being selected for the 1992 World Cup, but he returned a year later, and helped Pakistan win in his final appearance in an ODI. Needing seven runs off three balls, he managed to hit a six on the fourth ball of the final over off Sri Lanka’s Pramodya Wickramasinghe to seal the victory.
Shane Warne and Abdul Qadir
At the time of his Test debut, Abdul Qadir was the only leg spinner around, by the time he retired, there were Pakistan’s Mushtaq Ahmed and Australia’s Shane Warne, with other teams also managing to recruit one such bowler. His son, Suleman Qadir played the U-19 Lombard World Cup, but failed to get into the senior team. However, the youngest son, Usman is an integral part of the national team. The Test Series between Pakistan and Australia in 2021 was named Benaud-Qadir Trophy in honor of two legendary leg spinners. Qadir inspired the new generations of cricketers in general, and the leg-spinners in particular, and played a crucial part in taking the game of gentlemen to new heights. He also opened and managed a cricket academy named, Abdul Qadir International Cricket Academy, which produced cricketers like Naseem Shah and Usman Qadir.
Abdul Qadir at his Academy teaching youngster the art of leg spin
Qadir was hailed by his teammates and opponents equally. Shane Warne commented during Ashes 2019 after Qadir’s death “I had the opportunity to meet him in 1994 during my first tour of Pakistan and a lot of people who bowled leg-spin like I did, we looked up to him.” Indian master batter Sachin Tendulkar termed Qadir one of the best spinners of his time. South Africa’s Pakistan-born leg spinner Imran Tahir considers him his guru, and even visited him many times for useful tips.
Abdul Qadir and Sachin Tendulkar
According to the greatest Umpire of all time ‘Dickie’ Bird, who officiated for both Qadir and Shane Warne, believed that Qadir was a lot better than Warne and he was in a league of his own. It is wonderful to see that the greatest leg-spinner of all times, Shane Warne, is being compared with Qadir, who popularized the use of spinners in tests and ODIs as an attacking option, which helped Warne and other spinners later on. The legendary Abdul Qadir died nine days short of his 64th birthday, on the 6th Sept 2019, and could not see his son Usman represent Pakistan, who made his Pakistan debut in November 2020.
Usman with his father, Abdul Qadir
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