Mushtaq Mohammad

Considered to be one of Pakistan‘s best all-rounders of all time, Mushtaq Mohammad wen’t on to lead the country in 19 Tests.

One of the five Mohammad brothers, Mushtaq was born in Junagadh, British India and migrated to Karachi with his family during the partition.

Having scored the most First-class centuries out of all the Mohammad brothers, Mushtaq Mohammad also holds the record for scoring a century and taking five wickets in both the innings of a Test match for Pakistan.

Mushtaq Mohammad’s First-class career started at the age of 13. Scoring a brilliant 87 and taking 5 for 28 on debut with his wrist-spin, Mushtaq openly declared that his future would be to lead Pakistan.

Mushtaq Mohammad’s time with Northamptonshire

Mushtaq Mohammad went on to represent Karachi and PIA in domestic cricket, and Northamptonshire in county cricket.

Scoring a 1,000 runs every season from 1966 to 1977 for Northamptonshire, Mushtaq went on to stay with the side even when Pakistan were touring England. Joining the national team only for Tests and a number of other games.

For Northamptonshire, he brought the Gillette Cup home while leading the side in 1976. In addition to that, the club obtained second place in the County Championship under Mushtaq – equalling its best run.

His career as the club’s captain however, lasted only for two years and he resigned after realizing his contract would not be renewed. In 1978, Northamptonshire chose its former captain Jim Watts, instead.

Mushtaq Mohammad soon became the first Pakistani to score 25,000 runs in First-class cricket – this is an even bigger feat if we consider that he was an all-rounder!

In his First-class career of 502 matches, Mushtaq Mohammad scored 72 centuries with 31,091 runs – more than half of those runs for Northamptonshire alone.

Mushtaq Mohammad for Pakistan

Making his debut for Pakistan in 1959, 15-year-old Mushtaq became the youngest ever at the time to play Test cricket. It wasn’t long before he scored his first century – his sixth Test.

His 101 against India placed him in the record books as Mushtaq became the youngest ever player to score a Test century – his feat stood for over 40 years.

Mushtaq Mohammad led Pakistan in 19 Tests, out of which 8 were won, 7 were drawn, and four lost. Under his captaincy, Pakistan were able to beat West Indies in their backyard and beat India 2-0 when the two sides faced each other after 18 years.

Post-retirement, Mushtaq went on to coach the 1999 World Cup Pakistan side which reached the final. He then coached the United States’ cricket team for a short period.

	Test	First-class	ODI	List A
Matches	57	502	10	180
Runs	3,643	31,091	209	4,471
Batting Avg.	39.17	42.07	34.83	29.22
50s/100s	19/10	159/72	1/0	24/1
Highest Score	201	303*	55	131
Balls Bowled	5,260	47,226	42	2,090
Wickets	79	936	0	49
Bowling Avg.	29.22	24.34	–	30.24
5-wicket hauls	3	39	–	0
10 wickets in a match	0	2	–	0
Best Bowling Figures	5/28	7/18	–	4/30
Catches	42	349	3	48