Google pays tribute to Abdul Hafeez Kardar on 94th Birthday

Google is paying tribute to one of the world’s finest cricketer Abdul Hafeez Kardar. The search engine Doodle has changed its logo on occasion of Kardar’s 94th Birthday. An image of a batsman playing a stroke on front foot has appeared on the searching site.

Abdul Hafeez Kardar was known best as an attacking left-handed batsman, wristy, who timed his shots splendidly. He also bowled his slow left-arm spin or slow medium accurately.

He is one of the only three players to have played Test cricket for both India and Pakistan. The other two sharing the honor are Amir Elahi and Gul Mohammad.

He was born on January 17, 1925, in Lahore. He was a Test cricketer before the partition, He played three Tests for India during the 1946 tour of England under the name Abdul Hafeez. After the tour, he added the family name Kardar and stayed in England. He went to Oxford to study PPE and enhanced his reputation as an idiosyncratic and fearless cricketer.

He captained Pakistan in their First Test match in 1952. It’s on record that Kardar captained Pakistan against all the Test playing nations of the day, and achieved an unparalleled distinction of leading his team to victory against each of them.  His most famous achievement was the series-leveling victory at the England tour in 1954 at The Oval.

Kardar’s last tour was in 1957 to the West Indies, where he elected to play despite having a broken finger, defying to the medical advice. Where he bowled 37 overs and scored 57.

He also became chairman of selectors and president of Pakistan’s Board of Control from 1972 to 1977. Kardar was at the forefront of events from then until he resigned from the Pakistani Board in 1977 in protest against Government interference.

Imran Khan once said, “After his retirement in 1977, Pakistani cricket was thrown to the wolves, the cricket bureaucrats whose progeny still rule the game.”

Being regarded as the father figure of Pakistani cricket, Kardar ruthlessly worked to modernized the organization of the Pakistani game. Many of the themes he was advocating in the 1970s later become common currency among modern administrators.

He was an early advocate of neutral umpires. He stressed at the need to do away with unwieldy committees, to break the post-imperial dominance of Lord’s, and wanted to expand the game in Asia.

Kardar later entered into Pakistani politics, was elected as MPA for Punjab Assembly in 1970 on  Pakistan People’s Party ticket. And was also inducted in the provincial cabinet as a food minister.

He kept fighting fiercely against what he considered to be political interference in the administration of cricket. One critic once wrote about him that, “He was never one to cloud an issue with goodwill if it could be avoided”.
He was watching the World Cup match on TV in London when he suffered the collapse that led to his death on 21st April 1996 in Lahore.

His last appointment was as Pakistan’s ambassador to Switzerland. Kardar was awarded the Pride of Performance by the Government of Pakistan in 1958.