Biography Of Javed Miandad- The Street Smart Cricketer Of Pakistan

The words street smart, shrewd, and never-say-die are the best words to describe Mohammad Javed Miandad popularly known as Javed Miandad who is a former Pakistani cricketer and captain.

He played between 1975 and 1996 and is regarded as the greatest batsman Pakistan has ever produced. He is widely known forhis historic last ball big six against India in 1986, when 4 runs were required to win and handed Pakistan one of the rarest wins in that fashion, unseen previously in international cricket.

However, it was not only his batting that got under the skin of the oppositions, but also his on field antics in ‘sledging’ the fielders and the bowlers. His ‘kangaroo hops’ while batting against India in the 1992 World Cup, in response to Kiran More’s continuous appeals was a spectacle worth going miles for.

Miandad was born in Karachi on June 12, 1957, one of seven children. Cricket was the family game, his only two brothers also being destined to play top-class cricket in Pakistan. Javed made his first-class début at the age of sixteen years and five months, for Karachi Whites, and he was still only seventeen when chosen for the Pakistan Prudential World Cup squad in 1975. On the recommendation of Sadiq Mohammad he was invited by Tony Greig, when the World Cup was over, to play a few matches for Sussex second eleven with a view to qualifying. Sussex were sufficiently impressed to ask him to return in 1976, when, although he appeared in only five matches, he easily headed the Sussex batting averages with 523 runs, an average of 58, and a top score of 162 against Kent at Canterbury.

At home that winter he made his Test début, scoring 163 on his first appearance - against New Zealand at Lahore. He followed this with 206 and 85 in the third and final Test at Karachi, so becoming, at nineteen years and four months, the youngest player ever to hit a Test double-hundred. Although he had a somewhat disappointing tour of the West Indies in 1976-77, playing in only one Test match, he was already a rising star.

During Pakistan's tour to Australia in 1976–77, he played three Tests and scored 148 runs at the average of 29.60. He also took five wickets in the series, including three wickets for 85 runs at the Adelaide Oval. In the 1977–78 home series against England, Miandad scored 262 runs at the average of 131.00, including three half-centuries. 

Miandad scored a Test century in his first match against India at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, during the 1978–79 series between the teams. With 154 not out in the match, he completed his first 1,000 Test runs at the age of 21 years and 126 days – the second youngest batsman after Kapil Dev to do so. In the same series, by scoring another century at the National Stadium, he accumulated 357 runs from five innings at the average of 178.50, and ensured Pakistan's victory 2–0.In the same season, Miandad played three matches in New Zealand, and accumulated 297 runs against them at the average of 99.00. Being the highest run-scorer of the series, he also scored 160 not out at the Lancaster Park, Christchurch.

During the Pakistan's tour to Australia in the same season, he scored 183 runs at the average of 61.00, including 129 runs not out at the WACA Ground, Perth.

After Pakistan’s tour of India in the 1979-80 season where Miandad became the fastest Pakistani to reach 2000 runs, he was appointed as Pakistan's captain for the first time, against the touring Australia. He scored 181 runs at the average over 60 in the series; including 106 runs not out at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, and Pakistan won the three-match series 1–0. In the solitary series of the 1980–81 at home, against the West Indies, Miandad scored 230 runs at an average of 32.85.

In the 1981–82, during the Pakistan's tour of Australia, Miandad captained the Pakistan team in three Test matches. During the first Test at Perth, he was involved in an unpleasant controversy with Dennis Lillee, where the two players came into contact after Lillee blocked Miandad's way while he was taking a single. Pakistan lost the first two matches of the series, but they won the third Test at Melbourne by an innings and 82 runs, and finished the series 2–1. Miandad batted consistently throughout the series scoring 205 runs from five innings.

In the home series of the same season against Sri Lanka, he captained the team in three Tests, although the players refused to play under his captaincy following the Lillee-Miandad controversy though Pakistan won the series by 2–0. After the refusal of senior players to play under Miandad captaincy, Imran Khan was appointed as a new captain for the 1982 England tour. Pakistan lost the three-Test match series 2–1, with Miandad scoring 178 runs at the average of 35.60. In his next series against the touring Australia, he scored his eighth century—138 runs—in the third Test at the Gaddafi Stadium, and ensured Pakistan's third successive win in the series.

Miandad's consistency of scoring runs, along with Zaheer Abbas, Mudassar and Mohsin Khan, crushed the Indian bowling line during the 1982-83 tour. Miandad and Mudassar's partnership of 451 runs in the Hyderabad Test constituted a new world record for the third wicket, and equalled the all-time record for any Test wicket, made by Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford in 1938.They became the first two Pakistani batsmen to score double-centuries in an innings. Miandad scored his career best 280 not out.

Miandad scored centuries in the each innings of the second Test of the 1984–85 series against New Zealand where Pakistan won 2-0 with Miandad topping the batting charts again. During 1985–86 Sri Lankan tour to Pakistan, Miandad, who was captaining Pakistan, made his third double century in the first Test at Iqbal Stadium.In the same season Pakistan visited Sri Lanka, and played three Tests against them. During the second Test Miandad's disagreement to the umpire's decision of lbw against him led to much discontentment. Later on someone from the crowd threw a stone upon Miandad, and he went upstairs into the crowd to take revenge from the spectator.

In 1992, during the Pakistan tour to England, he scored 153 not out in the first Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham. From then to his retirement he scored 578 runs, without scoring a century, at the average of 32.11 in 11 Tests. He made only four half-centuries during that period. 

Miandad made his One Day International debut against the West Indies at Edgbaston, Birmingham in the 1975 Cricket World Cup. His last ODI was also a World Cup match, and Pakistan lost the match. His highest ODI score came against India at the Gaddafi Stadium in a match which Pakistan lost in 1982. He scored 119 not out off 77 balls with a strike rate of 154.54 in the match.

Miandad is famously known for last ball six against India during the final of 1986 Austral-Asia Cup. In a great finale, the last over bowled by Chetan Sharma began with 11 runs required. Two wickets fell during the over with Pakistan needing 4 runs and India one wicket from the last ball. Miandad hit the ball, low full-toss from Sharma, for a six into the crowd. Pakistan recorded their first win at a major tournament and Miandad finished his innings with 116 not out. This is still considered as one of the most historic moments in the history of ODI cricket and he became a national hero.

Javed Miandad is the first (and one of the only two, other being Sachin Tendulkar) player to have played in six World Cups, the first six, from 1975 to 1996.

Miandad is one of the only individuals to have coached the Pakistan Cricket Team three times.During this reign, Miandad won Pakistan the Sharjah Cup (April 2003) bereft of big names like Inzamam and Yousuf. Javed Miandad married Tahira Saigol in 1980. He has two sons and a daughter.His son Junaid Miandad is married to Mahrukh Ibrahim, daughter of Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian born underworld kingpin.

Javed Miandad Statistics

Format  Matches    Runs    Avg.      Hs.    100s    50s    Wkts    BB      Avg.    5w    10w    Catches
Test       124          10832    52.57    280*    23      43       17      3/74    40.11    0       0         93
ODI       233           7381    41.70    119*      8    50    7    2/22    42.42    0    0    71

Javed Miandad Achievement

• Miandad was amongst the three Pakistani players to have his name in the Hall of Fame at Lords.
• In 1986, he had received the President’s Pride of Performance Award.
• Miandad is one of two cricketers (the other is Sachin Tendulkar) to appear in Six World Cup competitions.
• In 1982, Wisden named him as one of the cricketers of the year.
• Javed Miandad scored 1083 runs in 33 matches at 6 World Cup tournaments.
• He was also declared the 44th best Cricketer of all time in ESPN Legend of Cricket.
• He is the youngest player to hit a double-century. He broke George Headley's 47-year-old record. Now the record is 35 years old.
• Miandad holds the world record for the maximum number of consecutive half centuries in One Day Internationals- 9
• In 1992, Miandad was decorated by the President of Pakistan with the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, the third highest honor bestowed by Pakistan.