Hanif Mohammad

Hanif Mohammad built Pakistani Test batting almost single-handedly in the country's first two decades of international cricket, and did it with an innings that still stands as the longest ever played: 337 runs in 970 minutes against West Indies at Bridgetown in January 1958, an act of pure survival that saved his team from an innings defeat. ESPNcricinfo's obituary for him used the title "the original Little Master," a nickname later passed to Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar.

A debut that mattered

Hanif played in Pakistan's first-ever Test match, against India at Delhi in October 1952, and top-scored in the country's first Test innings — an appropriate start for a career that, more than any other, defined how Pakistan batted for a generation. He captained Pakistan in 11 Tests between 1964 and 1967, before retiring in 1969-70 after a career that ran to 55 Tests.

970 minutes: the longest innings in history

In the first Test of Pakistan's 1957-58 tour of the West Indies, at Bridgetown from 17 to 23 January 1958, West Indies declared at 579 for 9 and bowled Pakistan out for 106, enforcing the follow-on. Pakistan, 473 runs behind, looked headed for a heavy defeat when Hanif walked out to bat again on the third afternoon. He was still there on the sixth and final day, having spent more than sixteen hours at the crease to make 337 — 24 boundaries and hundreds of scampered singles, twos and threes — and force a draw. It remains the longest innings, by time, in the history of Test cricket, and stood as the longest innings in all first-class cricket, at any level, for more than 40 years. It was also emblematic of a career built on almost unmatched patience: in a separate Test innings, Hanif faced 223 balls to score just 20 runs, still recognised as the slowest rate of scoring sustained over a substantial Test innings.

499, and a record Brian Lara needed 35 years to beat

In the 1958-59 season, playing for Karachi against Bahawalpur, Hanif went even further: 499 runs before being run out attempting a five-hundredth run, surpassing the long-standing first-class individual scoring record held by Don Bradman. The innings stood as the world record for 35 years until Brian Lara scored 501 not out for Warwickshire in 1994.

Pakistan's first great batsman

Hanif finished with 3,915 Test runs at an average of 43.98 with 12 centuries. In an era when subcontinental batsmen were assumed to struggle outside home conditions, Hanif built genuine success in England and Australia as well as at home — a rare trait for his generation that helped establish Pakistan as a serious Test nation barely a decade after independence. Wisden named him a Cricketer of the Year in 1968. He was also, by every account, an unusually honest competitor: in one Test against Australia, he was given out stumped off the bowling of Tom Veivers, with Australian wicketkeeper Barry Jarman completing the dismissal; Jarman later admitted at a press conference that Hanif had not, in fact, been out.

A cricketing dynasty

Hanif was one of five cricketing brothers — Wazir, Raees, Mushtaq, Sadiq and Hanif himself, four of whom played Test cricket for Pakistan. His son Shoaib Mohammad also played Test cricket, and his grandson Shehzar Mohammad has played first-class cricket in Pakistan, making the Mohammad name one of the longest-running family lines in the sport. After retiring, Hanif co-founded and edited the magazine The Cricketer Pakistan for two decades and served as team manager for Pakistan International Airlines.

Legacy

Hanif died in Karachi on 11 August 2016, aged 81, after treatment for lung cancer. He was among the first inductees into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2009, alongside fellow Pakistani greats Imran Khan and Javed Miandad, and the Pakistan Cricket Board has since renamed its grade-II, four-day domestic competition the Hanif Mohammad Trophy, and built a training centre in Karachi, in his honour. For his complete career record, see his player profile; Brian Lara, who eventually passed his 499, is among our cricketing legends.