Khan Mohammad developed an interest in cricket during his school days. He then joined Islamia College where he pursued studies in Economics and History and also played cricket for the college team. It was at Islamia College that he first met and partnered Fazal Mehmood in the bowling attack. He also played for the famous Universal Club and his performance for these two sides was noticed by the selectors who picked him to represent Northern India in the Ranji Trophy of 1946-7. In three zonal matches Khan Mohammad captured ten wickets.

Following the creation of Pakistan, Khan Mohammad participated in the inaugural first-class match played in his new homeland, representing Punjab against Sind. He sent down the first ball to be bowled in a first-class match in Pakistan and when 13 runs later, he uprooted MEZ Ghazali’s stumps for four, he also became the first bowler to capture a first-class wicket in the new country.

Khan Mohammad won a place in the national team to tour Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) in 1949. He was a great success taking 14 wickets in the two Tests.

When Ceylon toured Pakistan the following year, Khan represented both Pakistan Universities and the national team against the visitors. Later in the summer of 1950 the Chairman of the Cricket Board, Justice AR Cornelius, decided to send four promising youngsters to train at the renowned coaching school in London run by the former England Test cricketer Alf Gover. Khan Mohammad was one of the four promising young players selected for this venture, the others being Hanif Mohammad, Imtiaz Ahmed and Rusi Dinshaw.

The next year, in 1951, Khan Mohammad returned to England with the intention of settling down there. Somerset had shown an interest in him and he was ready to serve the three year qualifying period that would enable him to play regularly for the county. He appeared for them in a match against the visiting South African team taking five key wickets in the game including those of their captain and star batsman Dudley Nourse and the opening pair of McGlew and Waite.

A call from the Cricket Board in Pakistan changed Khan Mohammad’s plans. A strong MCC side were touring Pakistan in the winter of 1951 and there was the possibility of acquiring Test playing status if Pakistan did well against them. Putting country before county Khan returned to Pakistan. At Lahore, in the first of two Unofficial Tests, Khan Mohammad took 5 wickets for 84 runs in the first innings of a drawn match. In the second Unofficial Test at Karachi, Khan and Fazal were in venomous form, skittling out a strong MCC contingent for just 123 runs in the first innings. Khan took 3 for 45 and Wisden noted that ‘he made the ball fly.’ In the second innings he did even better with 5 for 88, as MCC were bowled out for 290, leaving Pakistan with a target of 285. Pakistan ran out winners by four wickets and went on to join the Test playing ranks on the basis of this performance.

Khan was an automatic selection for the Pakistan side that toured India in the winter of 1952, for their inaugural Test series. He sent down Pakistan’s first ball in Test cricket in the opening Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in New Delhi. Nineteen runs later he became the first Pakistani wicket-taker in Test cricket when he bowled Pankaj Roy round his legs. This was followed, seven runs later, by the prize wicket of Vinoo Mankad who was also clean bowled by Khan. Tragedy now struck. Khan had carried a groin injury going into the match and a twenty over stint on the opening day aggravated it significantly. He was unable to take further part in the match and was, in fact, ruled out for the entire tour.

Pakistan’s next Test engagement was the tour of England in 1954. By this time Khan Mohammad had taken up playing league cricket in England. He had joined Lowerhouse in the Lancashire League and his appearances for Pakistan on this tour were limited to the first two Tests and a few side matches. In the opening Test at Lords he bowled the legendary Len Hutton with his first ball, which was a classical Khan in-swinger. On a wet, rain affected, sticky wicket Khan and Fazal bowled unchanged to reduce a powerful England batting line-up to 117 for 9 declared. Khan had 5 wickets for 61. Apart from Hutton his victims included Peter May, Bill Edrich, Trevor Bailey and Godfrey Evans.

When India toured Pakistan in early 1955 Khan was in fine form. He played in four of the five Tests, unfortunately missing one through injury, a feature that dogged him throughout his career. He took 4 for 42 at Dhaka in the first innings of the opening Test, 5 for 74 at Bahawalpur in the opening innings of the second Test, 4 for 79 at Peshawar, in India’s first innings in the fourth Test and 5 for 72 at Karachi in the first innings of the concluding Test of the series. His series aggregate of 22 wickets at 15.86 was the best from either side.

In the winter of 1955 New Zealand visited Pakistan and played three Tests. Khan Mohammad played in all three and really came into his own in the 3rd Test at Dhaka. The first three days of the Test were washed out by rain. On the 4th day, on a slightly damp coir matting wicket, Khan was almost unplayable. New Zealand were bowled out for just 70 runs, with Khan taking 6 for 21. In their second innings, New Zealand fought desperately to survive, reaching a score of 69 for 6 wickets in 90 overs when stumps were drawn for the match. Khan Mohammad’s figures in this inning were 30 overs, 19 maidens, 2 wickets for 20 runs.

A few months after the New Zealand series Pakistan hosted an MCC side for a three month tour that included four unofficial Tests. Khan Mohammad played in the first three of these. Dhaka hosted the Second Unofficial Test and was once again the venue for another sterling performance from Khan. He took 7 for 84 in the first innings and followed this up with 5 for 55 in the second to register match figures of 12 for 139. Pakistan won the match by an innings. In the third unofficial Test at Peshawar, Khan captured 5 for 65 in the second innings to help Pakistan to another win. His tally for the series was 19 wickets at 16.5 runs apiece.

In October 1956, the Australian team stopped in Pakistan for a solitary Test at Karachi. Bowling unchanged for 53.1 overs, Fazal and Khan Mohammad dismissed the Australians for a paltry 80 runs. Khan had figures of 4 for 43. In their second outings Khan and Fazal again shared all 10 wickets and bowled 88.5 overs between them, with Khan grabbing 3 for 69. Altogether this pace duo bowled 142 overs out of the 163 sent down by Pakistan in total and captured all 20 Australian wickets to fall. This was an unprecedented performance and it enabled Pakistan to beat the visiting Aussies by 9 wickets.

During this Test Khan Mohammad also reached the milestone of 50 Test wickets in only his 11th Test, which was the quickest for a Pakistani bowler at the time. This record was unbeaten till 1990 when Waqar Younis reached this landmark in just 10 tests. Khan Mohammad had now played 11 Tests and taken 52 wickets at an average of just 17.98.

Khan was selected for the Pakistan team to tour the West Indies in 1957-58. He was hampered by injuries for most of the tour and played in only two Tests that included the Kingston Test where Sobers scored a world record breaking 365 not out in a West Indian total of 790 for 3 declared. Khan was wicketless despite bowling 54 overs. At the end of the West Indian series Khan Mohammad’s international career came to a close. He ended with 54 wickets at 23.92 runs each.

After his retirement Khan turned to coaching, taking up assignments in Canada and Sri Lanka. He also ran training camps in Pakistan, especially for fast bowlers. One such camp in 1984 was attended by a young and upcoming Wasim Akram. Khan Mohammad was associated with the national cricket board in other administrative capacities as well and managed some of the junior national teams.

He spent much of his later life in London where he ran a travel agency. He died of prostatic cancer in 2009.

Dr Salman Faridi is a senior surgeon, poet, sports aficionado and an avid reader with a private collection of over 7000 books.  salmanfaridilnh@hotmail.com