Iqbal Qasim

Mohammad Iqbal Qasim (Urdu: محمد اقبال قاسم; born 6 August 1953) is a former Pakistani Memon cricketer who played in 50 Test matches and 15 One Day Internationals between 1976 and 1988.

Iqbal Qasim

Personal information
Born	(1953-08-06) 6 August 1953 (age 71) Karachi, Pakistan
Batting	Left-handed
Bowling	Slow left-arm orthodox
International information
National side	Pakistan
Test debut (cap 75)	24 December 1976 v Australia
Last Test	07 October 1988 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 24)	30 December 1977 v England
Last ODI	29 October 1988 v Bangladesh
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 50 15 246 95 Runs scored 549 39 2,432 329 Batting average 13.07 6.50 14.47 10.61 100s/50s 0/1 0/0 0/3 0/0 Top score 56 13 61 23 Balls bowled 13,019 664 55,387 4,223 Wickets 171 12 999 119 Bowling average 28.11 41.66 20.48 20.54 5 wickets in innings 8 0 68 2 10 wickets in match 2 0 14 0 Best bowling 7/49 3/13 9/80 6/25 Catches/stumpings 42/– 3/– 172/– 27/–
Source: CricInfo, 4 February 2006

Early life and education

Iqbal Qasim was born on 6 August 1953 in Karachi to a Memon business family.^[1][2] He attended the University of Karachi, where he graduated with a master's degree in economics.^[1]

Career

Qasim ended his career with 171 wickets in his 50 Test matches, at approximately 3.5 wickets a match. His accurate bowling saw his economy rate at a low 2.21. He pushed the ball through quicker than normal, not extracting great turn, but deceiving batsmen through variations in pace and trajectory.

He is most notable for spinning Pakistan to victory in the 5th Test at Bangalore in the 1987 India-Pakistan series, and thus securing Pakistan's first series win on Indian soil. He took 9/121, including the key scalp of Sunil Gavaskar for 96 in the last innings of the game.

Iqbal Qasim remained in the shadows of his teammate, leg spinner Abdul Qadir, although his career returns are superior by average and very similar by strike rate.

He became Pakistan's chief selector in 2012.^[3]