Mohammad brothers of Pakistan created Test history

SAMPATH BANDARA

Cricket has produced many famous brothers. But there have been only one instance of four brothers representing a country in Test cricket.

In a very rare instance in the 131 year old Test history, Wazir, Hanif, Mushtaq and Sadiq Mohammad from Pakistan were dubbed as the 'Mohammad Dynasty' of Test cricket.

The Mohammad brothers dominated Pakistan cricket for three decades. On 64 occasions two of the brothers played together in Tests, in the Karachi Test against New Zealand in 1969, Hanif, Mushtaq and Sadiq all played together and all three batted and bowled in this Test - the eldest brother Wazir and Hanif played together in 18 Tests, Hanif and Mushtaq in 19 Tests. Wazir and Mushtaq in one, and the youngest brother Sadiq and Mushtaq in 26 Tests.

Their brother Raees was once 12th man in a Test and Hanif's son Shoaib Mohammed played 45 Tests and scored 2,705 (Ave 44.34) runs.

The Mohammad family recorded 13,643 runs (Ave 39.66) and 36 hundreds in 218 Tests and had a total of 85 wickets and 137 catches.

Wazir Mohammad (born in 1929)- The eldest of the Mohammad brothers was a right-handed middle order batsman. He toured India in 1952/53, England in 1954 and West Indies in 1957 the first three tours ever made by Pakistan.

Wazir played 20 Tests for Pakistan and scored 801 runs (27.62) including two centuries.

Hanif Mohammad (born in 1934)- The best of the four brothers. He was a small made right-handed opening batsman who captained Pakistan in 11 Tests.

He was called 'The Little Master' and made his first class debut for Karachi and Bahawalpur in 1951/52 when only 16 years old. And after the partition of India made his Test debut for Pakistan against India in 1952/53 in Pakistan's first ever Test.

He still holds the world record for the longest Test innings of 16 hours and 39 minutes (970 minutes) while making 337 against the West Indies at Bridgetown during the 1957 tour - the slowest triple century in Test history. Then in 1958/59 he scored 499 for Karachi against Bahawalpur which was the highest score in first class cricket until Brian Lara broke it in 1994 by scoring 501 not out.

Hanif Mohammad played 55 Tests (1952/53 to 1969/70) and scored 3,915 runs (average 43.98) with 12 centuries.

Musthtaq Mohammad (born in 1943)- (Right-handed batsman with superb timing and leg-break bowler who became the youngest Test cricketer in 1959, at the age of 15 years and 124 days (against West Indies at Lahore).

He has scored over 30,000 first class runs and 70 centuries and was the first Pakistan player to score over 25,000 first class runs.

Mushtaq played 57 Tests and scored 3,643 runs (Ave 39.17) including 10 centuries and took 79 wickets (29.24) and 42 catches. He captained Pakistan in 19 Tests.

Sadiq Mohammad (born in 1945)- The youngest of the Mohammad brothers. Only left hander of the family was an aggressive opening batsman and leg spinner.

Made his first Test appearance in 1969/70 and played 41 Tests for Pakistan and scored 2,579 runs (Ave 35.81) including five centuries.