Hanif Mohammad

Hanif Mohammad (Urdu: حنیف محمد‎, born 21 December 1934) is a former Pakistan cricketer. He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between 1952/53 and 1969/70 and averaged 43.98, with twelve hundreds. At his peak, he was considered one of the best batsmen in the world. Regrettably, he played for Pakistan at a time when there was very little Test cricket being played by Pakistan, with just 55 Test matches in a career spanning 17 years.

Hanif was trained by Abdul Aziz, an Afghani cricket player, who had earlier played in Ranji Trophy for Jamnagar and father of Indian cricketer, Salim Durani.

The highest of Hanif's Test centuries was a famous 337 made against West Indies in a six-day test at Bridgetown in 1957/58. After Pakistan found itself following on from a first-innings deficit of 473 runs on the afternoon of the third day, Hanif spent more than sixteen hours at the crease compiling his runs, allowing Pakistan to draw the game. It remains the longest innings in Test history (and stood as the longest in all first-class cricket for over 40 years). It was the only Test match instance of a triple century in a team's second innings until it was equaled by New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum against India in 2014. Displays such as this earned him the nickname "Little Master".