In a Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match in December 2021 Pakistan's Test opener Abid Ali experienced acute chest pain while batting for Central Punjab against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the UBL Sports Complex in Karachi. Prompt medical attention was provided and a diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome was established, for which he received appropriate treatment, including coronary artery stenting. He is presently undergoing convalescence and will hopefully be able to resume his Test career.

Pakistan's cricket history has many examples of Test players who conquered illness and infirmity to succeed, showing that courage and determination can be potent cures for misfortune and distress.

Imran Khan

As a child Imran slipped while climbing a tree, and broke his left arm for which he needed to be hospitalised. The fractured bone was not set ideally, it healed but left him with residual problems. As Wisden has noted "he had to practice constantly at holding his bat during his playing days, otherwise his grip would stiffen up." This did not deter Imran from developing his batting skills, in fact he has confessed in his autobiography that his original cricketing ambition was to become the "next Bradman", bowling was something he initially indulged in not to take wickets but merely to enjoy making the batsmen hop around while facing his short pitched deliveries.

However, it is as a bowler that he made his greatest mark. Hard work, focused commitment and a changed action turned Imran from a medium paced trundler into a genuine fast bowler generating venomous pace that unsettled the best batsmen of his time. Added to his pace was another lethal weapon, then new and unknown to the cricketing world, called reverse swing which he employed with devastating effect, spearing the ball like a guided swerving missile to hit the base of the stumps or the unfortunate batsman's pads. At the peak of his bowling prowess Imran sustained a stress fracture of the shin during the home series against India in 1982-83, that prevented him from bowling for over two and a half years and threatened to end his career as a bowler. In the winter of 1985, defying all odds, he came back with a bang, capturing 50 wickets in his next 9 tests at a paltry average of 14.80 runs per wicket.

Mudassar Nazar

One of Pakistan's great opening batsmen, Mudassar Nazar had a medical problem that remained hidden from most cricket enthusiasts. Even Mudassar himself was unaware of it in the early years of his international career. He had noticed that if a tall fast bowler bowled a yorker on a ground with a short sight screen he lost sight of the ball and would be dismissed. It was only in 1980 that a reason was discovered for this difficulty, when Mudassar was diagnosed as having a form of color blindness that makes it difficult to distinguish between red and green, seeing them as almost similar shades of colour, especially in low light.

The problem was particularly relevant on grounds like Sharjah with low sight screens. Against tall bowlers like Ambrose whose arm towered over the sight screen at the point of release, Mudassar would lose track of the red ball after it left the bowler's hand and pick it up only when it pitched leaving him with minimal reaction time, with yorkers posing the biggest threat. It is a testament to his skill that he still achieved such a high level of excellence despite this big disability. Interestingly, Mudassar says Abdul Hafeez Kardar had noticed this problem when he saw Mudassar playing at the age of 16 and said that "Nazar's son doesn't pick the ball early enough". For Mudassar the introduction of the white ball in ODI's came as a big reprieve.

Wasim Akram

The bowling supremo Wasim Akram is widely recognized as the best left arm fast bowler in cricket history. He was at the peak of his career and captain of the Pakistan side when he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1997 at the age of 31. He was feeling tired, hungry, thirsty and going to the bathroom frequently and his dad suggested that he should get himself checked. Tests revealed a blood sugar level of 470 mg/dL, well above the normal range of 80-120 mg/dL.

Wasim was shocked. There was no history of diabetes in the family and he had prided himself on his fitness, working out regularly in the gym and running 10 km per day. He had presumed that his symptoms were due to excessive training and the on-going three match home Test series against the visiting West Indies team. Doctors told him that his diabetes could be stress induced and put him on insulin. Getting used to daily injections was only part of the problem, Wasim had to re-fashion his entire diet, introducing strict control and discipline, eschewing many of his favorite foods and adjusting his meal times with his playing schedule. His late wife Huma, who was a psychologist by profession, helped him to deal with the emotional trauma of facing a serious, career threatening condition.

Wasim rose to the challenge taking 17 wickets in the Test series underway at an average of just 17.29 runs apiece and went on to take over 150 international wickets after his diagnosis. Today he's a great global ambassador for promoting awareness about diabetes and it's management.

Shoaib Akhtar

Shoaib is remembered globally as the bowler who delivered the fastest recorded ball in cricket history at a speed of 161.3 kph. Much less is known about the disabilities he had to overcome to reach this landmark. Shoaib was born with flat feet, a condition that prevented him from walking properly even as a five year old, as he would repeatedly keep falling over. He overcame this problem by taking up running as a hobby, racing through the fields and local streets even in the extreme heat of the summer season, eliciting reprimands from his elders. As an ardent devotee of kite flying, Shoaib's running received further practice chasing and retrieving kites that had been severed from their strings. As a cricketer he needed customized boots as he sprinted in to bowl off a long run up, battling with repeated bouts of pain and swelling in his knees to overcome his natural handicap.

Later during his cricket playing career, another disability or anatomical anomaly reared its head. He was suspected of throwing and was temporarily banned by the ICC. An angry Shoaib had his action scrutinized by the Exercise and Performance Department at the University of Western Australia in Perth, where it was discovered that he had hyperextension of his joints. He could extend his elbow up to 42 degrees against a maximal value of 20 degrees for normal people. This gave the illusion of throwing even though his arm was perfectly straight at the point of delivery. This confirmation by the experts vindicated Shoaib and erased any controversies about his action.

Bazid Khan

Son of the famous Majid Khan, Bazid is also a Type 1 diabetic. He, too, successfully overcame his medical illness and though he played only a solitary Test for Pakistan, he did represent the national side in 5 ODIs and also played for the Pakistan Under-19 team when he was only 15. In England he was nominated as Wisden's School Cricketer of the year in 1999, when playing for Brighton College, he scored 1481 runs at an average of 92.56 and took 50 wickets at 19.52 runs apiece.

Bazid felt that diabetic cricketers can experience occasional difficulties on the first class circuit as they were often put up in basic hotels where awareness of diabetes is limited, thus presenting problems with finding suitable meals.

Yasir Shah

Yasir Shah has been likened to Lionel Messi in appearance. An ever present smile on a cherubic face suggests a relaxed cricketer at ease with himself and the world. It was therefore a surprise when it emerged that he is hypertensive and on medication for it. This fact became public knowledge when Yasir unexpectedly failed a dope test after an ODI against England in Abu Dhabi in November 2015. The banned substance found in Yasir's test sample was a drug called chlortalidone, a diuretic often used in the treatment of hypertension, either alone or in a combination tablet also containing other anti-hypertensive medicines. As the story unfolded it was revealed that Yasir and his wife both have blood pressure problems, and that accidentally, instead of taking his own prescribed pill Yasir had taken his wife's prescribed tablet, which contained the offending substance. Yasir's own blood pressure medication was free of any disallowed ingredient.

Yasir had no knowledge that his wife's blood pressure pills contained a banned substance and this was a genuine mistake as the medicine was taken purely for therapeutic reasons rather than for any intended performance enhancement. He had also informed the Pakistan team physiotherapist Bradley Robinson that he had inadvertently taken a single blood pressure tablet belonging to his wife. However, the ICC still served him with a three month suspension which cost Yasir his place in the 2016 World T20 championship.

Yasir quickly bounced back from this bizarre episode. At the time of this incident he had taken 76 wickets in 12 Tests and he soon proceeded to become the second fastest bowler ever to take 100 Test wickets, reaching this tally in his 17th Test. Subsequently he was also the second fastest to reach 150 Test wickets in 27 Tests and the fastest to snare 200 Test victims, doing so in his 33rd Test.

It turned out that Yasir had a strong family history of hypertension and his uncles had suffered both strokes and heart attacks due to it. However, he did not allow this ailment to stand in his way, pursuing a successful career as a quality leg spinner of the highest pedigree.

Azeem Hafeez

This left arm pace bowler was born with two missing fingers in his right hand. Though his disability was in his non-bowling arm, Azeem experienced difficulties in holding the bat and while fielding, but this did not impede his progress.

He had a short international career with the national side, being inducted into the Pakistan team when Imran could not play because of his shin injury. Over the next year and a half Azeem appeared in 18 Tests and 15 ODIs for his country capturing 63 Test wickets including 4 fifers, before he made way for another left arm fast bowler, the precociously talented Wasim Akram. Sandwiched between the careers of two inspirational bowlers, Azeem was only 21 when he played his last Test for Pakistan. He had admirably overcome a birth handicap to scale the pinnacle of his chosen passion and vocation.

Waqar Younis

The legendary Waqar Younis also played with a physical handicap during his Test career. Swimming in his hometown's canals was a pastime that he and his friends enjoyed in their youth. They would climb up a mesh of steel railings to get to an overhead bridge from where they could dive into the canal below. Waqar once slipped and caught his little finger in the mesh, causing it to be severed from his hand. Fortunately it was his non bowling left hand and did not interfere with his subsequent development into one of the best fast bowlers of his era. With regular practice Waqar also made sure that it did not affect his fielding, collecting 53 catches during his international career.

Myopia, or short sightedness, is a major impediment in cricket, a game that relies on perfect eyesight and sharp reflexes. The bespectacled Zaheer Abbas, who overcame this handicap with exquisite strokeplay, is well remembered by all cricket lovers but what is not known to many is that our budding superstar, the ICC Cricketer of the Year for 2021, Shaheen Shah Afridi is also myopic. This was picked up by the coach Aaqib Javed during a session at the ICC Academy in Dubai when the players were practicing long catches. Noticing that Afridi's response was a little slow, Aaqib decided to get his eyesight checked. The report truly shocked him. Shaheen Afridi's vision was minus 2.5 in one eye and minus 5.6 in the other. Aaqib was amazed that Afridi could play at this level and bowl accurately with such poor eyesight. Contact lenses quickly resolved the problem and the results are evident for all to see.

It is said that if you chase your dreams your nightmares will stop chasing you. Obstacles readily wilt when confronted by the power of human resolve and belief. These Test cricketers are living proof of this.

– 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