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Pakistan thought Asif Iqbal was an opening bowler - until the day he
smashed the England Test attack for a century and rescued his batsmen
from humiliation. Overnight he changed from a number nine to a
middle-order batsman and his bowling faded away to gentle medium pace.
Soon this exciting strokemaker with flexible wrists was one of the top
batsmen in the world, a position he regularly emphasised with important
innings for Kent. Asif could so easily have been an Indian Test
cricketer. He played Ranji Trophy cricket for Hyderabad in 1959 - as a
batsman - making his debut in a match in which M. L. Jaisimha was his
captain. Two years later the family emigrated to Pakistan. Asif was
chosen for his first Test when the Australians came to Karachi in
October 1964. They found themselves facing an unlikely new ball
partnership of Asif and Majid Khan. Rarely have two better batsmen taken
the new ball. Asif batted at number 10 and made 41.
He made his mark
with the ball later that winter, taking 5 wickets in an innings at Tests
in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. His break- through innings
came at the Oval in 1967. Ken Higgs had spirited away the official
Pakistani batsmen in the wink of an eye, and they looked set for an
innings defeat. Asif twinkled his way to 146 in 200 minutes, adding 190
with Intikhab Alam. He was never the tidiest of cricketers. He always
batted in pads with enormous flaps which, added to a natural
bow-leggedness, made him walk like a cowboy wearing chaps on his
trousers and suffering chapped thighs after a hard day on the range. He
made two centuries in a three-Test series in Australia in 1976-77 and
captained Pakistan in the 1979 World Cup. (Bob Harragan)
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