Perhaps few professions in Pakistan other than politics, medicine, law and the armed forces have seen the level of lineage and legacy that the game of cricket enjoys in this country. I term the game a profession because of its changed product concept. What was once a kinder, gentler game is now more of a cutthroat capitalism’s latest tool.

Other than cricket, very few sports internationally have seen passing on the baton over generations. Wrestling and car racing come to mind with The Rock’s father and grandfather both being wrestlers and the Earnhardts with Ralph (grandfather), Dale (father), Kerry (son), Dale Jr (son and half-brother to Kerry) and Jeffrey (grandson of Dale) all famed NASCAR drivers.

Siblings are more common in every sport and the last three generations of Pakistanis are perhaps more exposed to the Chappell brothers (whose grandfather played cricket for Australia, too), Irfan and Yousuf Pathan, and the Williams sisters who are still playing tennis.

But perhaps the most unusual instance came at Harare in the late 1990s when three pairs of brothers — Andy and Graham Flower, Gavin and John Rennie and Bryan and Paul Strang played together in a Test for Zimbabwe against New Zealand.

In Pakistan itself, we have had our own famous sporting families that have been spread over generations. However, more than in any other country, nepotism and influence has often played a role in extending the family in the game. This is perhaps because of absence of a transparent system and a vocal society. Having said that, sons and younger brothers have often times justified their induction; in the case of Imran Khan and Jahangir Khan, these are counted as a blessing.

The family names in the country were first established in wrestling, or kushti to coin the local name. From Gama pehelwan to Bholu brothers to Nasir Bholu, kushti was their ‘akharha’ (pun intended). Squash saw the dynasty headed by Azam Khan (though it was great-grandfather Abdul Majid Khan who first began playing as a club pro under the British Raj) which seems to have ended with the retirement of Jahangir Khan.

Also, several siblings have featured in our sporting history. In hockey there have been Samiullah and Kalimullah as well as the Dar brothers and in tennis the Haq brothers made their mark briefly in the 1980s.

But it is in the game of cricket that bloodline has oozed itself the most. Pakistan is the only country other than England to have played three brothers in the same Test match, against New Zealand at Karachi in 1969. The earlier instance was in the 19th century when the Grace brothers played against Australia. Some years later, all three Hearnes brothers played the England v South Africa Test at Cape Town, except one, Frank, played for South Africa against his two brothers! He had earlier played for England as well before migrating south.

The Mohammad brothers who played at Karachi were Hanif (who was playing his last Test), Mushtaq and Sadiq (who was playing his first). The eldest of Mohammad brothers, Wazir Mohammad, was a key member of the Test side in the 1950s and played alongside Hanif. In that way Pakistan remains the only country in the world to have fielded four brothers in Test match history.

Of the four Hanif and Mushtaq captained Pakistan and those who played with them ranked them high in terms of tactical sense. Mushtaq was the aggressive one though, going for results and risks and has one of the highest win ratios among Pakistani Test captains, winning eight of his 19 Tests and losing four. Four of his stints as captain were away in Australia (twice), West Indies and New Zealand. He also became the first Pakistani captain to win a Test series against India.

Hailing originally from Junagarh, Gujarat, they settled in Karachi and began their cricket from the infamous Jehangir Park in Saddar. All four were batsmen though Hanif played his first Test as a wicketkeeper and also opened. Mushtaq among them was also a wily leg spinner who took 79 Test wickets. Some said that if Intikhab had not been captain, Mushtaq would have bowled more overs and maybe crossed 100 wickets. Mushtaq was also the youngest at 15 years and 124 days to play a Test until the late 1990s and the youngest at just over 17 years to score a Test hundred, a record lasting till the turn of the century when Ashraful of Bangladesh reached one at an earlier age.

‘Mush’, as he was called by his colleagues, was one of four Pakistanis chosen to play for a World XI tour against England and Australia and again part of four selected by Kerry Packer for his breakaway tour in the late 1970s. He had his days as an all rounder, in 1973 becoming only the second player in history to score a double hundred and take five wickets in the same Test. Four years later, he was captain when he scored 121 and 56 and took eight wickets against the mighty West Indies at Port of Spain to lead Pakistan to victory, the first time in history a captain had scored a century, half century and taken five-for in an innings in the same Test.

He is the only Pakistani cricketer to have twice achieved the double of a hundred and an innings five wicket haul in the same Test. He was a fighter and one of the best readers of the game. Mush was also regarded as the first proponents of the reverse sweep and often played and thought out of the box.

The youngest of the brothers, Sadiq, was actually grafted into a lefthander by the family (he bowled right arm leg spin for fun) as they felt he would form a niche for himself, with no left handed batsmen at the top. Like Mushtaq he was a wristy batsman who loved to cover drive and square cut. His bravest hour came in the Karachi Test against West Indies in 1975. Fielding at short leg he was hit on the neck by a swept shot and had to be carried on a stretcher. With Pakistan losing on the last day, he walked in lower down and batted to save the Test, ending on an unbeaten 98 against some fierce bowling by Andy Roberts, one of the fastest bowlers at the time.

But it was Hanif who is the most iconic of the brothers. He was an ascetic in the middle but his defence was rarely pierced. His son Shoaib said that when his father gifted one of his bats to him, it was reddish in the middle and had hardly any marks near the edges; such was his judgment and hand-eye combination. He still holds the record for the longest Test innings of over 16 hours during which he scored 337 to save a Test where Pakistan had a deficit of over 400 runs when they started their second innings. His record for the highest first class innings of 499 stood for a few decades before Brian Lara topped 500.

Interestingly, not until Sadiq Mohammad was dropped from the Test match against England at Karachi in 1978, did Pakistan go into a Test match without at least one of the brothers. This stretch of 26 years without at least one brother playing is definitely singular in history. In fact had Mushtaq not opted to play for Kerry Packer, (he returned after a gap of six Tests to captain against India) he would likely have been captain of the side in that Karachi Test match and the Mohammad name would have gone on for another two years in all probability.

Though all had children who had a shot, but it was only Hanif’s son who went on to don the Pakistan cap, albeit after some resistance from Imran Khan who felt he wasn’t good enough when he was being inducted into the Test side. He was a mirror of his father, dour and careful in stroke play. And was in and out of the team. But once in, sheer hard work and commitment saw him etch out a place in the side as a successful opening batsman, perhaps the best in Pakistan until Saeed Anwar established himself in the early 1990s.

Shoaib was quite an effective off spinner in ODI’s and an energetic fielder with a good eye and fine arm.

When he scored 203 not out against New Zealand at Karachi in 1990, it was the first time that both father and son had scored a Test double hundred against the same country; amazingly Hanif’s score against New Zealand at Lahore in 1964-65 was also 203 not out! In that series, Shoaib crossed hundred in each of the three Tests, with one of his innings spreading over 700 minutes.

The Kiwis thus have the odd distinction of conceding a century to each of the Test members of the Mohammad family as Wazir got 189 against them, Mushtaq 201 and Sadiq 169. It doesn’t end there for the hapless black caps. Hanif and Shoaib are the only father and son to have scored two hundreds against them, and they have one each against India as well.

In December 1984, after playing in the same side for a few Test matches, Shoaib and Mudassar Nazar eventually opened together in a Test match. It was a throwback to the days when their fathers would walk out together to bat in a Test match. I wonder how many nations can boast of such an instance.

The writer has been writing on cricket since 1979, and has edited The Cricketer International (UK) Asian Edition as well as authoring two books on World Cup Cricket history. He sits in as cricket analyst on various channels.

The second part of the series will talk about the Burki-Khan family, Nazar Mohammad-Mudassar among other family connections in Pakistan cricket.