Hanif Mohammed Pulls
With Hanif Mohammad (batting), it was sheer concentration and stamina to go on. Nothing seemed impossible; no score seemed inconceivable. However long be the duration, Hanif always seemed to bat on, and on, and on... © Getty Images
There are certain aspects that define the batting of greats: we typically associate Don Bradman with his phenomenal consistency, Viv Richards with his aggressive body language and Denis Compton with his carefree aggression. With Hanif Mohammad it was sheer concentration and stamina to go on. Nothing seemed impossible; no score seemed inconceivable. However long be the duration, Hanif always seemed to bat on, and on, and on…On January 11, 1959 “Little Master” Hanif Mohammad went past Don Bradman’s 452 to register the highest First-Class score – a record that stood until Brian Lara went past him. Mukherjee looks back at an excruciatingly long innings that single-handedly the grinded the opposition to dust.
After Karachi elected to field in the semi=final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Ikram Elahi and Mahmood Hussain bowled out Bahawalpur for a paltry 185 by tea. Karachi had a formidable side with the several Test stars, and a huge total seemed on the cards on an otherwise placid pitch. The biggest threat, though, was Hanif – fresh from his gargantuan match-saving 337 against West Indies a year back. Everyone knew that Hanif was capable of batting Bahawalpur out of the match single-handedly. And that is what he precisely did. Hanif and Alimuddin ended the day at 59 without loss, Hanif scoring a seemingly harmless 25.
After Alimuddin departed with the score on 68, Hanif put on 172 with Waqar Hasan before the latter fell. Hanif was joined by his elder brother (and the Karachi captain) Wazir, and they carried on the single-minded grinding. The brothers put up 103 for the third wicket before an adventurous Wazir decided to take a risk and was stumped.
Such acts of greed have always eluded Hanif, though. He carried on with his business with grim determination. Wallis Mathias joined him, and Karachi ended the day at 383 for three. Despite his dogged display, Hanif had managed to keep strike throughout the day, and had managed to reach 255 at stumps on day two.
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