Abdul Qadir: the leg-spin wizard who kept the art alive

In the 1970s and 1980s, fast bowlers ruled world cricket. West Indian pace bowling had changed the nature of the game, and many experts had begun to regard leg-spin as an old, dying art. Then a young man from Lahore arrived, bouncing in and rolling his wrist, and bewildered the world’s leading batsmen with his googly and flipper. He was Abdul Qadir. He took 236 wickets in 67 Test matches and assured the next generation of leg-spinners that the art was still alive¹. In 2022 he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame³.

Early life and start in cricket

Abdul Qadir was born on 15 September 1955 in Dharampura, Lahore. He started playing cricket at school level as a batsman. He later turned to leg-spin while playing for a local club, and entered first-class cricket in 1975 for Habib Bank. His brother Ali Bahadur was also a leg-spinner in first-class cricket, and several of his sons later played domestic cricket too².

His Test career began against England in Lahore on 14 December 1977. In the same series, at Hyderabad (Sindh) on 2 January 1978, he took 6 wickets for 44 runs and showed that he was in it for the long haul¹.

Rise in Test cricket

Qadir’s bowling action was his trademark: a few bouncing steps, the ball tossed high in the air, then a sharp flick of the wrist. He had the conventional leg-break, the top-spinner, two kinds of googly and the flipper². Batsmen often could not tell which way the next ball would turn.

In September 1982 he took 7 wickets for 142 runs against Australia in Faisalabad. In October 1986 he took 6 for 16 in just 9.3 overs against West Indies at the same ground. His 7 for 96 against England at The Oval in August 1987 is also a memorable performance¹.

The brightest day of his career was the Test that began against England in Lahore on 25 November 1987. In one innings of that match he took 9 wickets for just 56 runs in 37 overs. These are his best Test figures, and the spell is still counted among the greatest in the history of Pakistani spin. In the same series, in Karachi in December 1987, he also scored 61 with the bat, his highest Test score¹.

Over his Test career he took five or more wickets in an innings 15 times and ten or more in a match five times. His best match figures were 13 for 101. His last Test was against West Indies, again in Lahore, on 6 December 1990¹.

One-day cricket and captaincy

Qadir also made a fine start in one-day cricket. In his first ODI, against New Zealand in Birmingham on 11 June 1983, he took 4 wickets for 21 runs and remained not out on 41 with the bat. A few days later, on 16 June 1983 in Leeds, he took 5 for 44 against Sri Lanka, his best ODI bowling¹. Both matches were part of the 1983 World Cup, and he was also in Pakistan’s squad at the 1987 World Cup².

His 4 wickets for 9 runs in 10 overs against New Zealand in Sharjah in April 1986 is the best example of his economical bowling. In 1987 and 1988 he also captained Pakistan in 5 ODIs, taking 13 wickets in those matches at an average of 12.69. His last ODI was against Sri Lanka in Sharjah on 2 November 1993¹.

Statistics

Source: ESPNcricinfo Statsguru¹. The figures are for his international career.

Influence and legacy

Qadir’s greatest contribution is that he kept leg-spin alive when the world was forgetting it. Several leading leg-spinners who followed him, including Australia’s Shane Warne, openly acknowledged that in the 1980s they learnt by watching Abdul Qadir². In Pakistan, too, he remained a model for later generations of leg-spinners.

His bowling had the flair of an artist. With every ball he asked the batsman a new question, and when a wicket fell, his delight was a sight to behold. He died in Lahore on 6 September 2019². In November 2022 the ICC inducted him into the Cricket Hall of Fame, recognising his services at the global level³. In the history of Pakistani cricket, Abdul Qadir’s name will continue to be remembered as that of the artist who revived the magic of the wrist.