The original little master
A former captain, the iconic Hanif Mohammad looks back at his caree r in an interview with the Kolkata-based daily The Telegraph
The Surfer
25-Feb-2013
A former captain, the iconic Hanif Mohammad looks back at his career in an interview with the Kolkata-based daily The Telegraph. He talked about his standout memory from his famous triple hundred (337 in Barbados,1957-58) against West Indies.
That of a West Indian, who would sit on the branch of a tree... Initially, he would taunt, but then began to appreciate my batting and our fightback... On the fourth day, the poor chap fell and had to be hospitalised. Yet, he returned the next afternoon... ‘You’re still there? I’m back, my friend... I’m back’ he kept saying. After the Test got over, Kardar and I invited him to our dressing room for tea and sandwiches. We thanked him for his support and gave a couple of mementos...
Ramachandra Guha, the social and the cricket historian, had once written about that knock and Hanif's meeting with Don Bradman, whose record the short Pakistani had broken.
When they played South Australia at Adelaide, Sir Donald Bradman walked into their dressing room and asked to meet the man who had broken his record score of 452. Hanif got up, and apologetically said, ''Sir, you will always be the greatest.'' The Don looked him up and down and replied, shaking his head: ''So you are the fellow. I always thought that the batsman who broke my record would be six feet two inches tall. But you are shorter than me!''