News that Wazir Mohammad has died at the age of 95 has been received with quiet sadness across the Pakistan cricket community. The eldest of the celebrated Mohammad brothers, Wazir featured in 20 Tests between 1952 and 1959, and though his average of 27.62 might look modest, team-mates insist his influence was anything but.
“He was one of the rocks we built those early successes on,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) noted in a brief statement on Monday. “Wazir Mohammad served Pakistan cricket with dedication and pride.”
At Test level Wazir usually walked out in the lower middle order, often with a crisis already brewing. In first-class cricket he averaged a shade under 40, a figure that felt closer to his true worth. Former captain Abdul Hafeez Kardar used to say, only half-joking, that if Hanif was the artist, Wazir was the engineer.
The Oval, 1954, remains the innings most supporters remember. Pakistan, on their maiden tour of England, looked sunk at 82 for 8 in the second innings. Wazir’s four-hour unbeaten 42, built first with Zulfiqar Ahmed (58 runs) and then Mahmood Hussain (24 runs), dragged the score up to 164, giving Fazal Mahmood just enough to work with. Fazal grabbed 12 wickets, Pakistan won by 24, and a new nation announced itself properly in Test cricket.
Cricket historian Abid Ali Kazi reflected: “Without that stand Pakistan almost certainly lose by an innings. With it they level the series – you can draw a straight line from that day to the self-belief the team still shows abroad.”
Two years later, against Australia in Karachi, Pakistan were 70 for 5 when Wazir joined his captain. A 104-run partnership with Kardar followed; Wazir’s 67 proved the second-highest score of the match and set up a nine-wicket victory.
His most productive series arrived in the Caribbean in 1957-58. While the tour is usually remembered for Garry Sobers’ then world-record 365 and Hanif’s marathon 337, Wazir left with 440 runs, two hundreds and a painstaking unbeaten 97. His brisk century in Bridgetown – Pakistan’s fastest Test hundred until 1967 – was balanced by a more stoic 189 in Port of Spain that helped secure a consolation win. By the end of that Test Pakistan had managed a victory on each of their first three overseas tours, a useful habit for a side not yet ten years old.
Opportunities dried up soon after as a younger crop emerged. One was his brother Mushtaq, who made his debut in 1959 and quickly nailed down a place. Wazir played only four more Tests, his final appearance coming before his 33rd birthday.
Affectionately nicknamed “Wisden” in the dressing-room – he retained an almost photographic memory for averages and partnerships – Wazir carried on in Pakistan’s domestic game until 1964. His last innings, 23 for Karachi Whites in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final, arrived in a losing chase but still drew gentle applause from opponents who knew precisely what he had given the game.
“Wazir bhai could recite entire scorecards while polishing his boots,” recalled former team-mate Mahmood Hussain in a 1999 interview. “We trusted him with the small things – where to stand, when to leave the ball – and, on the big occasions, he invariably found a way.”
Like his brother Mushtaq, Wazir settled near Birmingham after retirement, keeping in touch with the sport through club visits and the odd coaching clinic. Friends say he remained alert to the end, still sending handwritten letters to the PCB whenever a young batter caught his eye.
The Mohammad family legacy now rests with Raees, Mushtaq and Sadiq, the surviving brothers. Hanif, the most famous of the clan, died in 2016. Between them the siblings played 170 Tests and formed the backbone of Pakistan’s batting for a quarter of a century.
Current Pakistan Test captain Babar Azam paid his respects on social media: “We stand on the shoulders of giants. Wazir Mohammad was one of them.”
Funeral arrangements will be confirmed by the family in due course.
