Pakistan Prime Minister and former cricket captain Imran Khan on Saturday remembered late Abdul Qadir as the life of the dressing room who used to entertain the team with his wit and humour.
Khan expressed grief over the death of Pakistan's former leg-spinner Abdul Qadir due to cardiac arrest at the age of 63 in Lahore on Friday night.
Calling him as "one of the greatest leg spinners of all time", Khan tweeted, "Deeply saddened to hear of Abdul Qadir's passing. My prayers and condolences go to the family. Abdul Qadir was a genius, one of the greatest leg spinners of all time. And he was also the life of the dressing room entertaining the team with his wit and humour".
In another tweet, Khan stated that Qadir's bowling stats do not do justice to the talent he possessed.
"Qadir's bowling statistics do not do justice to his genius. Had he been playing cricket now with the modern DRS system, where batsmen can be given out on the front foot as well, Qadir would have gotten as many wickets as the great Shane Warne," he said.
Khan had a key role to play in turning the spinner into a force to be reckoned with in international cricket as it was under his captaincy that Qadir was given regular chances in the team.
Both Khan and Qadir were also part of Sachin Tendulkar's maiden trip to Pakistan in 1989.
The demise of Qadir due to cardiac arrest was confirmed by his son Salman Qadir.
During his playing days, Qadir was known as the dancing bowler due to his peculiar bowling style.
He went on to play 67 Test matches for Pakistan in which he scalped 236 wickets.Qadir also played 104 ODIS, managing to take 132 wickets.
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