This top cricketer lost two fingers at birth, even Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev were afraid of him

There were very few bowlers within the Seventies and Eighties who may maybe trouble the likes of legendary Indian cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. That this bowlers became missing two fingers since his birth makes him even more special.

We are talking about little-known Pakistan fast bowler Azeem Hafeez, who had replaced injured Imran Khan within the national team and carried a enormous workload in Test series in India and Australia – two of the toughest places for any bowler. Born in Jhelum area of Punjab in Pakistan, Hafeez played in 18 Tests in an 18-month period within the Eighties and claimed sixty three wickets at a daily of 34.ninety eight with four 5-wicket hauls.

His best of 6/46 came on a lifeless Lahore pitch against India in a Test match, this despite being born with two fingers missing in his right hand since birth. He made his debut became against India in 1983-eighty four and on the subsequent tour of Australia, he bowled marathon spells, taking 19 wickets with 5-wicket hauls at Adelaide and Perth. He then took 22 wickets within the six consecutive Tests against the Kiwis.

Hafeez started playing cricket within the bylanes of Pakistan in 1977-seventy eight and stayed within the identical ‘mohalla’ as legendary Pakistan cricketers Hanif Mohammad and his brothers Mushtaq Mohammad and Sadiq Mohammad. He became thrust into Test cricket against India in 1983-eighty four series in spite of his limited first class experience.

He bowled a whopping 116 overs in three Tests against India at Bangalore, Jalandhar and Nagpur to select up 10 wickets. The wicket which made him a household name became that of legendary Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar – bowled around his legs for 5 within the Jalandhar Test.

Happy Birthday to former Test cricketer Azeem Hafeez. The left-arm fast bowler played 18 Tests & 15 ODIs, taking a total of seven⃣8⃣ international wickets. percenttwitter.com/7Fo7YmlwCK

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) July 29, 2018

But his maiden Test wicket became former India captain and legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev, who had best recently led India to a win within the 1983 ODI World Cup. “My success on docile wickets became acknowledged by Indian Cricket magazine choosing me as Cricketer of the Year 1984. I also recall kite-flying at some stage within the remainder day of Jalandhar Test and given a pair of batting gloves, tailor-made by a Sardarjee for my needs,” Hafeez became quoted as saying.

But being a left-arm pacer, Hafeez became unfortunate to be playing within the identical era as Wasim Akram. Because the legendary Pakistan all-rounder followed Hafeez into Test cricket soon after curtailed his Test career.

“I became aware of meteoric rise of Wasim (Akram) and return to full fitness of Imran (Khan), at some stage within the World Championship in Australia. In what became till that time the largest limited-overs game played by Pakistan, we were beaten by India by eight-wicket margin within the final word at Melbourne. We were all naturally disappointed and headed back home, desirous to settle the score with our arch enemy.

“Little did I know this may turn into my last time out for Pakistan. Six months down the road Miandad would step all of the way down to make way for Imran to return to the helm. I became disappointed when the fresh captain, despite apparently in ‘favour’ of my inclusion, looked in other places. Though invited for training camps and verbal assurances, I never returned to the national side. It might probably possibly be easy to in all probability be in a position to maybe call it destiny,” Hafeez had said.