CRICKET360: Pakistan Cricket

the Partition of India in 1947, and the establishment of the separate nation state of Pakistan, cricket in the country developed steadily and Pakistan was given Test Match status at a meeting of the Imperial Cricket Conference at Lord's Cricket Ground on 28 July 1952.

When the cricket team of West Indies was due to undertake a tour of India in the winter of 1948 and all of a sudden, few members of the Lahore Gymkhana , thought of inviting the mighty team to Pakistan for one-off test match. this gave the birth to the idea of forming the board of control for cricket in Pakistan.(BCCP), so that an official invitation could be extended to the West Indies cricket board.

Justice A.R Cornelus who later became the chief Justice of Pakistan was the captain of Lahore gymkhana, with his other fellow cricketers like Mian Muhammad Saeed, Dr. Jahangir Khan, Sheikh Muhammad Nisar, Dr. Dilawar Hussain, QD Butt and AR. Collector invited then Chief Minister Punjab, Khan Iftikhar Hussain, the Khan of Mamdot to form the BCCP Khan Iftikhar Hussain became the first president of Board of Control for cricket in Pakistan (BCCP) also.

Pakistan's first Test match was played in Delhi in October 1952 as part of a five Test series which India won 2-1. Pakistan made their first tour of England in 1954 and drew the series 1-1 after a memorable victory at The Oval in which fast bowler Fazal Mahmood took 12 wickets. Pakistan's first home Test match was in Dacca in East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh ) in January 1955 against India, after which four more Test matches were played in Bahawalpur , Lahore , Peshawar and Karachi (all five matches in the series were drawn).

The team is considered one of the best teams in international cricket, with top rankings in both Test and One-day International matches. Traditionally Pakistani cricket has been filled with players of outrageous talent but limited discipline, making them a team which could play inspirational cricket one day and then perform less than ordinarily another day. Over the years, competitions between India and Pakistan have always been emotionally charged and provide for intriguing contests, as talented teams from both sides of the border elevate their game to new levels to produce high-quality cricket.

Presidents and Chairmen chain
In 1995, the organization was renamed BCCP acquired a new name the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). New rules were adopted and Arif Ali Khan Abbasi become its first Chief Executive.
Name	Period
Khan Iftikhar Hussain Khan of Mandot(Late)	1948-1950
Chaudhary Nazir Ahmad Khan(Late)	Mar, 1950 - Sept, 1951
Abdus Sattar Pirzada(Late)	Sept, 1951 - May, 1953
Mian Aminuddin (Late)	Mar, 1953 - Jul, 1954
Muhammad Ali Bogra (Late)	Jul, 1954 - Sept, 1955
Maj. Gen Iskander Mirza (Late)	Sept, 1955 - Dec, 1958
Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan(Late)	Dec, 1958 - June, 1963
Justice A R Cornelius (Late) (Chairman Ad hoc Committee)	1960-1963
Syed Fida Hussain (Late)	June, 1963 - May, 1969
I A Khan (Late)	May, 1969 - May, 1972
Abdul Hafeez Kardar (Late)	May, 1972 - Apr, 1977
Chaudhry Muhammad Hussain (Late)	Apr, 1977 - Jun, 1978
Lt Gen (Retd) K M Azhar	June, 1978 - Feb, 1980
Air Marshal (Retd) Muhammad Nur Khan	Feb, 1980 - Feb, 1984
Lt Gen. (Retd) Gulam Safdar Butt (Chairman Ad hoc Committee)	Feb, 1984 - Feb, 1988
Lt Gen. (Retd) Zahid Ali Akbar Khan	Feb, 1988 - Sept, 1992
Justice Dr Nasim Hasan Shah	Oct, 1992 - Jan, 1994
Javed Burki (Chairman Ad hoc Committee)	13th Jan, 1994 - 20th Mar, 1995
Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah Bukhari	Mar, 1995 - Jan, 1998
Khalid Mahmood	Jan, 1998 - Jul, 1999
Mujeeb ur Rehman (Chairman Ad hoc Committee)	1999-1999
Dr. Zafar Altaf (Chairman Ad hoc Committee)	1999-1999
Lt. Gen. Tauqir Zia (Chairman Ad hoc Committee)	1999-2003
Shaharyar Muhammad Khan (Chairman Ad hoc Committee)	2003-2006
Dr. Naseem Ashraf	(2006-2008)

Secretaries
Name	Period
Bashir Ahmad	1965-1971
Dr. Zafar Altaf	1972-1975
Khalid Mahmood	1975-1976
Lt Col (Retd) Zafar Ahmad	1977-1978
Lt. Col (Retd) Rafi Nasim	1978-1980
Arif Ali Khan Abbasi	1980-1984
Shakoor Ahmad	1984-1985
Lt. Col (Retd) Nasim	1985-1986
Zulfaqar Ahmad	1986-1986
Ijaz Butt	1986-1988
Arif Ali Khan Abbasi	1988-1991
Shahid Rafi	19911994
Ghulam Mustafa Khan	1995-1997
Waqar Ahmad	1997-1999
Shafqat Rana	1999

Chief Executives
Name	Period
Arif Ali Khan Abbasi	1995-1996
Majid Khan	1996-1999
Yawar Saeed (Director)	1999-2000
Brig Munawar Ahmad Rana (Director)	2000-2002
Chishti Mujahid (Director)	2002-2003
Ramiz Hasan Raja	2003-2004

Batting Summary

Hanif Mohammad scored 337 against the West Indies in 1958, the first triple hundred by an Asian cricketer. This is also the longest innings by any batsman in terms of time spent at the wicket. Saeed Anwar holds the record for scoring 194, the highest ODI innings, scored against the Indian cricket team in Chennai in 1997. Shahid Afridi holds the record for the fastest ODI century reaching the milestone off just 37 balls and also equalled the second fastest hundred by scoring a century off 45 balls.

Bowling Summary

Wasim Akram has taken 502 ODI wickets, the highest by any bowler in ODI cricket. Shoaib Akhtar is the fastest bowler in the world, regularly bowling at around 92-95 miles/h, and also has the record of the fastest delivery ever recorded, clocking at 100.2 miles/h.

Abdul Qadir is considered the reviver of the art of leg-spin bowling, and Saqlain Mushtaq is regarded as one of the best off-spin bowlers in cricket history, credited with inventing the delivery now known as the doosra . Danish Kaneria is only the second Hindu to play Test cricket for Pakistan.

Captains