Biography of Abdul Qadir

Abdul Qadir Khan (born September 15, 1955 in Lahore, Punjab) was a Pakistani international cricketer and latterly commentator.

He is universally regarded as one of the finest leg spin bowlers in the history of the sport. He made his first-class debut in the Pakistani local competition during the 1975/76 season and within two years had worked his way into the national team. Qadir made his Test debut on his home ground in Lahore against England in December 1977.

Natural talent combined with aggression and passion made Qadir one of the most successful bowlers of his time, and without a doubt the finest leg spinner at the time. He is credited with keeping leg spin bowling ‘alive’ through the 1970s and 1980s when there were very few bowlers of that variety in the game, perhaps indirectly resulting today in modern leg spinners such as Australia’s Shane Warne and fellow Pakistani Mushtaq Ahmed.

Qadir bowled what many critics regard as the finest display of leg spin bowling ever seen in international cricket on his home pitch in Lahore against the touring English in the 1987/88. Cricket writer Scyld Berry commented “it is impossible to believe that wrist-spin has ever been bowled better than Qadir did in his home city of Lahore in 1987-88, when he took 9 for 56 against England.” .

He played first-class cricket for twenty years, finishing with an impressive 960 wickets at the outstanding bowling average of 23.24. His Test bowling average was a very credible 32.80.

After retiring from competitive cricket Qadir became a commentator, although he became involved in controversy in April 2004 when he was fired by Pakistan Television (PTV) for commenting on air that
“we all know the ball has always been made up by Pakistani fast bowlers, but with so much scrutiny on this series, this has not been possible. Even against Bangladesh in the Peshawar Test last year, the fast bowlers were unsuccessful till after a break, [when] wickets fell in a heap.”

PTV accused him of intimating that Pakistani bowlers ‘tampered’ with the cricket ball – a serious allegation in the cricket world – although Qadir claimed this is not what he meant. He pushed into legal proceedings against PTV over the matter.