Known to have produced a number of cricketing prodigies over the years, Pakistan is still a country where teenage cricketers can dream of representing the nation with the minimum of experience, says a new book which explores the history of the game there.
In his new book "Wounded Tiger: A History of Cricket in Pakistan", British journalist Peter Oborne provides an insight into the nation's tryst with the game, digging deep into the political, social and cultural history and is packed with memories from former players and top administrators.
"Pakistan is still a country where teenage cricketers can dream of representing their country with the minimum of experience. The tradition is still alive in which the brilliant junior (such as Inzamam-ul-Haq or Waqar Younis) reveals his talent at the right time and place to astonished seniors and selectors, and is rushed into the international team," the book says.
"Astonishing teenagers are a recurring theme in Pakistan's cricket history. Of the 33 players recorded as making their Test debut before the age of 18, 15 are Pakistanis. For nearly 40 years the list was headed by Mushtaq Mohammad, at 15 years 124 days in the third Test at Lahore against West Indies in 1958-59," the author writes.
"Hasan Raza displaced him in 1996-97, when he appeared against Zimbabwe at Faisalabad at the declared age of 14 years 227 days. However, within weeks of his debut Majid Khan, the PCB chief executive, ordered him to submit to forensic bone age tests, alongside the current members of Pakistan's Under-15 and Under-19 squads.
The tests (which were carried out at the hospital created by Imran Khan in memory of his mother) disqualified a number of over-age members of the squads," the book, published by Simon & Schuster, says.
"These did not include Hasan Raza but his age was reassessed at 'around 15. However, the Board's own website continues to show his birthday as March 11, 1982 (consistent with a Test debut at 14), as do many other sets of statistics," it says.
