Beacon Of Light ----------Iqbal Qasim

Cricket has been a love of the youth for many decades in south asia,Memon youth is not an exception.From night matches in Ramazan on the streets of memon areas to inter community  recent wave of T-20 tournaments cricket has been in the blood of the memon boys.


In the late 70's one memon boy was choosen in the National team and whole community was in state of jubiliation. "A memon boy flying to Australia and that too in the test Squad of Paksitan Cricket team....!!!!" every memon family felt pride in the news.

Memons were keenly listening to the commentary as that boy bowled his first ball,he took his wicket far away from Pakistan but Memons were so overwhelmed as he has done it just in front of them.....that young handsome smart boy was none other than Iqbal Qasim.

Iqbal Qasim was a stylish left arm spin bowler from Pakistan who was a part of the national team from 1976-1988.
Born in Karachi in 1953,  Iqbal Qasim was a brilliant spinner who often puzzled the batsmen with variations in pace and flight of the ball. Iqbal Qasim was a penetrative bowler who was more concerned about the accuracy of the ball.

In his test career of 50 test matches, Qasim took 171 wickets at an average of 28.11. He took 5 wickets in an innings on 8 occasions and 10 wickets in a match twice. His career best performance remains 7 wickets for 49 runs. His ODI record shows 15 matches to his credit with 12 wickets at an average of 41.66.

He is most notable for spinning Pakistan to victory in the 5th Test at Bangalore of the 1987India-Pakistan series, and thus securing Pakistan's first series win on Indian soil. He took 9/121, including the key scalp of Sunil Gavaskar for 96 in the last innings of the game.

Iqbal Qasim remained in the shadows of his team-mate, leg spinner Abdul Qadir, although his career returns are superior by average and very similar by strike rate.
Iqbal Qasim was not that good with the bat but was a pretty decent fielder. Iqbal Qasim recently served the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) as the Chief Selector.

Pakistan pose for a team group prior to the start of the fifth day of the 3rd Test Match played at the National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan on the 22nd December 1987. Left to right, back row, unnamed team official, Asif Mujtaba, Shoaib Mohmmed, Aamir Malik, Ashraf Ali, Wasim Akram, Saleem Jaffer, Ijaz Ahmed and Ramiz Raja. Front Row, Tauseef Ahmed, Fahim Uddin (pakistan official), Mudassar Nazar, Javed Miandad, Abdul Qadir, Salim Malik and Iqbal Qasim. The match was drawn. (Photo by Bob Thomas/Getty Images)

Pakistan pose for a team group prior to the start of the fifth day of the 3rd Test Match played at the National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan on the 22nd December 1987. Left to right, back row, unnamed team official, Asif Mujtaba, Shoaib Mohmmed, Aamir Malik, Ashraf Ali, Wasim Akram, Saleem Jaffer, Ijaz Ahmed and Ramiz Raja. Front Row, Tauseef Ahmed, Fahim Uddin (pakistan official), Mudassar Nazar, Javed Miandad, Abdul Qadir, Salim Malik and Iqbal Qasim. The match was drawn. (Photo by Bob Thomas/Getty Images)

Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Innings	Opposition	Ground	Date
28.5	14	40	6	3	India	Mumbai	16 Dec 1979
42.0	22	49	7	3	Australia	Karachi	27 Feb 1980
32.2	5	89	6	3	West Indies	Faisalabad	8 Dec 1980
65.0	18	141	6	1	Sri Lanka	Faisalabad	14 Mar 1982
24.1	7	78	5	3	New Zealand	Hyderabad (Sind)	25 Nov 1984
30.0	15	48	5	2	India	Bangalore	13 Mar 1987
35.2	7	83	5	1	England	Faisalabad	7 Dec 1987
39.0	24	35	5	2	Australia	Karachi	15 Sep 1988

Batting Performance Analysis
Class	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Avg	SR	100s	50s	4s	6s	Ct	St
ODI	15	7	1	39	13	6.5	43.33			3	0	3	-
Tests	50	57	14	549	56	12.77	37.42		1	46	0	42	-
First class	246	231	63	2432	61	14.47			3			173

Bowling Performance Analysis
Class	Match	Balls	Runs	Wickets	Best	Average	Economy	5s	10s
ODI	15	664	500	12	3-13	41.67	0.23	0	0
Tests	50	13008	4807	171	7-49	28.11	2.2	12	2
First Class	246	54439	20465	999	9-80	20.48	2.25	68	14

Career Statistics
ODI debut	Vs England   at   Sialkot,Pakistan
Last ODI	Vs Bangladesh   at  Chittagong Stadium,Bangladesh
Test debut	Vs Australia   at  Adelaide Oval,Australia
Last Test	Vs Australia   at   Lahore,Pakistan

Back row left-right, Mudassar Nazar, Arshad Pervaiz, Haroon Rashid, Sarfraz Nawaz, Aemer Hamid, Iqbal Qasim, Naeem Ahmad, Front row, left-right, Sadiq Mohammad, Wasim Raja, Wasim Bari, Talaat Ali, Javed Miandad (Photo by Bob Thomas/Getty Images

Courtesy For Images:Bob Thoman/Getti images