OTD | Zaheer Abbas was born in 1947

Zaheer Abbas was born on July 24, 1947 in Sialkot and was regarded as the Asian Bradman during his prime. He played 78 Test matches for Pakistan and scored 5062 runs at an average of 44.79. Zaheer scored 12 centuries and 20 half-centuries in Test matches.

He played 62 ODI matches for Pakistan and amassed 2572 runs at an average of 47.62 and a strike rate of 84.80. Zaheer scored seven centuries and 13 half-centuries in ODIs. In 459 first-class matches, he made 34843 runs at an average of 51.54. In List A games, he finished with 11240 runs at an average of 40.72. 

He is the only Asian batter to score 100 centuries in first-class cricket. Zaheer also held the record of scoring the most runs by any batter in a four-match bilateral ODI series till 2015 until it was broken by Hashim Amla in 2015.

He played for Gloucestershire in county cricket for 13 years and scored consistently in his 13 seasons. He played 206 first-class matches for the team and scored over 16000 runs at an average of 49.79. He hit 49 centuries and 76 half-centuries for Gloucestershire. He is the only player who has scored a century and a double century in a first-class match on four occasions.

His Test debut happened in October 1969, and he scored 274 runs in his second Test against England. It is still the sixth-highest score by a Pakistan batter in Test matches. He made four double-centuries in Test matches and only two other Pakistani batters made more double-centuries than him. 

In 2015, Zaheer became the third cricketer after Colin Cowdrey and Clyde Walcott to hold the position of ICC President. He was awarded with the Pride of Performance Award in 1971 by the Government of Pakistan. In 2020, he was inducted in ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He was the sixth Pakistani player to be inducted in ICC Cricket Hall of Fame after Wasim Akram, Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Hanif Mohammad, and Waqar Younis.

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