Former Pakistan spinner Abdul Qadir was born on 15 September 1955. Widely regarded as one of the greatest spinners of the 1970s and 1980s, Qadir made leg-spin a beloved art form. His versatile googlies, flipper and top-spinner, have bamboozled many world-class batsmen.
The Lahore-born cricketer played 209 first-class matches and took 960 wickets at an average of 23.24. He made his international debut in December 1977. He appeared in 67 Tests and 104 ODIs between 1977 and 1993, picking up 236 and 132 wickets respectively. Qadir has 15 five-wicket and five 10-wicket hauls in the longer format.
His best performance in a Test series came in 1987 when he took 30 wickets for 437 runs in three matches against England at home. He also achieved the record for Pakistan’s best bowling figures in a Test innings – nine wickets for 56 runs. Another memorable performance of Qadir came at Faisalabad against West Indies. He rattled the Windies top order and went on to take 6 wickets for 16 runs.
Coming to 50 over cricket, his best bowling performance was five wickets for 44 runs against Sri Lanka in the 1983 Cricket World Cup. He was an integral part of the Pakistan team that played in the 1983 and 197 Cricket World Cups. Notably, Qadir also captained the national team in a handful of matches but failed to find success.
His brilliance with the ball prompted former England captain Graham Gooch to say that Abdul Qadir “was even finer than Shane Warne”. His last international match was against Sri Lanka in an ODI series in November 1993.
In 2008, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appointed him as the chief selector, but resigned after six months. In November 2022, he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. On 7 September 2019, nine days before his 64th birthday, Qadir died of a heart attack in Lahore.