Chief Curator Agha Zahid quits PCB after a brilliant knock

LAHORE: Former Test cricketer Agha Zahid, a well-known figure not only in Pakistan cricket circles but at the international level as well, quitted Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday as Chief Curator after having played his long innings brilliantly in the cricket establishment.

Agha, a self-made Post-Graduate from Govt College, Lahore, could not get a due reward in Test arena despite having scored more than 13,000 runs in 227 first class cricket matches during a career spanning around 21 years. Despite scoring such huge runs in first class cricket, he was given just one chance that too against mighty West Indies at the rain-affected Gaddafi Stadium pitch in February 1975.

Agha had opened with Majid Khan, who also couldn’t deliver as an opener in that encounter. However, Majid went on to retain his Test status but Agha, with no backing, never got further chance in Test cricket. So that was the end of Agha’s one-match Test career, who, no doubt, deserved more than that but it couldn’t happen, perhaps he was not related to someone at the helm of affairs at that time.

I still remember these bitter happenings as I had covered the aforesaid match for Monthly ‘Cricketer’ from Karachi but a determined and self-made Agha left this shock behind and continued with his cricketing journey ahead as he went on to march forward and forward and never looked behind.

Agha Zahid, who got his primary education from Cantonment School No 2 and high school education from Islamia High School Sadar Bazar Lahore Cantonment, made his impression in cricket from an early stage i.e. school level. He was named in Lahore Education Board team and later on, he was picked as member of the Lahore U-19 cricket team during the years 1968-69 and also toured Dhaka with Lahore U-19 team which also included former Test cricketers Wasim Raja and Imran Khan.

Agha, an Old Ravian, had also captained the Government College Lahore team during the session 1974-75 with Mudassar Nazar and Azhar Khan as team members. Moreover, Agha, also a Punjab University Blue, had the honour of leading Combined Pakistan Universities team during 1973-74 season.

Agha was also compatriot of Shafiq Papa, Mudassar Nazar, Sultan Rana, late Tariq Bashir, late Muhammad Sabir, Intekhab Ahmad as member of the then renowned Dawood Club (captained and managed by Zakria Ghani) before joining Habib Bank Limited (HBL) for a prolonged career of 26 years spanning from April 15, 1975 to July 15, 2001 with last position as vice president.

A few people know though somewhat outspoken, a kind-hearted Agha Zahid had long been supporting the young and deserving cricketers. He had been instrumental as mentor of many cricketers to name a few being late Pakistan Test cricketer Abdul Qadir and Ejaz Ahmed besides former first-class player Parvez Alam.

Agha’s long career with HBL remained outstanding. During his association with HBL cricket team, his teammates included former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad, late Abdul Qadir, Salim Malik, Abdul Raquib, Azhar Khan, Arshad Parvez and many more. After parting ways with HBL, Agha was offered the position of Chairman PCB Curators Committee in 2001 by the then Chairman PCB Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, which was later on upgraded as Chief Curator PCB in 2004. During his long association with the PCB as chief of curators he gave a new trend to standardisation of the pitches all over the country besides having initiatives for sporting tracks.

Moreover, Agha had also the honour to serve the country in different capacities as chief selector Pakistan juniors, women team selector along with former great Imtiaz Ahmad, coach and manager of national, Pakistan A teams besides being a match referee in first class matches. He was the coach of Pakistan A team, which emerged as champions during the SAARC Games in Bangladesh in 1997.

Agha Zahid also had distinguished career in English Cricket League. In England he played for Devon County Club and Barton Cricket Club between 1982 and 1986.

But one thing is clear that though outspoken and straight forward, even his rivals seldom doubted his fairness, advocacy for merit and transparency in whatever capacity he was assigned to particularly in selection and managerial matters whether it had been at national level, junior level or Punjab University level.

Lastly, Agha Zahid may have been a hard nut to crack for his superiors yet he always remained polite and kind to his juniors whether it was during his association with HBL or PCB as Chief Curator.

One of the curators and member of ground staff in Lahore on the occasion of his quitting PCB on Thursday said: “Agha Sahib being a kind-hearted man will always be remembered and missed by the curators and ground staff at all the cricketing centres in Pakistan.”