KARACHI: The first death anniversary of arguably Pakistan greatest batsman Hanif Mohammad will be marked with a Quran Khawani here on Friday.

Hanif, also a former national team captain, passed away on Aug 11 last year at the age of 81 after losing a long battle liver cancer.

According to Shoaib Mohammad, Hanif’s oldest son a right-handed batsman who also played for Pakistan, Quran Khawani for men will be held at Masjid-i-Nomani in Al-Hilal Society near Askari Park (Old Sabzi Mandi) between Asr and Maghrib, while arrangements for the ladies have made at Hanif’s residence at C-13, Al-Hilal Society.

Widely regarded as the greatest batsman of Pakistan during the country’s early years in international cricket, Hanif — famously known in the cricketing world as the ‘Little Master’ — was one of four out of five brothers who all played Test cricket for the country.

Hanif’s eldest brother Wazir and younger ones — Mushtaq and Sadiq Mohammad — represented Pakistan at the international level, while his second elder brother Raees played first-class cricket and was designated the 12th man in a Test match.

His late mother Ameer Bee was a national badminton champion in pre-partition India.

Hanif scored 3915 runs in 55 Tests between 1952 and 1969 with 12 centuries, the highest of them being the epic 337 against the West Indies in Barbados where the legendary right-handed opener occupied the crease for a staggering 970 minutes to help Pakistan gain a honourable draw after the tourists were forced to follow on.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2017