Urdu commentator Munir Hussain dies

Munir Hussain, one of the pioneers of Urdu cricket commentary in Pakistan, has died aged 83 of a cardiac arrest in Karachi. A former right-arm seamer, he played a single first-class match for Kalat District in 1969-70, taking two wickets against Quetta in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy.

Born in November 1929, Hussain had earned many accolades during his distinguished commentary career spanning several decades. He was presented the Best Urdu Commentator of the Decade Award (1985-95), the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation, and the PCB's World Cup Legends Award presented on the 10th anniversary celebrations of Pakistan's victory in the 1992 World Cup.

He was also the founder of the first Urdu cricket magazine Akhbar-e-Watan. He also wrote a popular weekly column in the Urdu daily Jung for years, and had commentated on the game on television and radio in the 1970s.

"Munir Bhai, a journalist and broadcaster of renown from the early 1970s, had a fan following of his own," Najam Sethi, the PCB's acting chairman, said. "He was an informed, easygoing and affable personality; his death will be widely mourned by the journalist and broadcast community as well as the cricketing fraternity across the country."