Mohammad Zahid (born 2 August 1976) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler. Zahid was the first Pakistani cricketer to take ten wickets on his international debut, taking eleven wickets against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in 1996.

Career

Having suffered a back injury and subsequently having to go through back surgery halfway through his career, he continued to play until January 2003. Zahid's last Test was against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

which saw a record first-wicket partnership by the South Africans of 368 runs, shared between

Graeme Smith Graeme Craig Smith (born 1 February 1981) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer who played for South Africa national cricket team, South Africa in all formats. In 2003, he was appointed Captain (cricket), captain of the So ...

and

Herschelle Gibbs Herschelle Herman Gibbs (born 23 February 1974) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer, who played all formats of the game for fourteen years. A right-handed batsman,who mostly opened the batting, Gibbs became the first player to ...

. He took 11 wickets in his debut Test against New Zealand in 1996, which included figures of 7 for 66 in the second innings. He became the first Pakistani to have taken 10 wickets or more on his debut. Besides this, he bowled an exceptional over to

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely renowned as one of the greatest Batting (cricket), batsmen of all time. He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest in ...

(West Indies), who was then the premier batsman of the world: Lara played and missed the first three deliveries due to the sheer pace that Zahid generated, before edging the fourth ball for a caught behind. This performance caught the eyes of the cricketing pundits.

Fastest bowler debate

Mohammad Zahid was noted for his pace from an early age and after his encounter with Brian Lara, Zahid was described by the left-handed batsmen as the fastest bowler in the world. The lack of speed cameras and Zahid's short career span before serious back injury has curtailed much of the initial hype over his pace as many fans, pundits and players wonder what actual speeds were reached by his bowling. Zahid's career began within short proximity of fellow Pakistani paceman

Shoaib Akhtar Shoaib Akhtar (; born 13 August 1975) is a Pakistani former international cricketer and commentator. Nicknamed the "Rawalpindi Express", he is the fastest bowler in cricketing history, with an unbeaten 161.3 kmph (100.23 mph) delivery. Akht ...

who later went on to record the fastest ever recorded delivery in cricket in the 2003 World Cup. In a recent interview on a chat show with

Rameez Raja 'Ramiz Hasan Raja (; born 14 August 1962) is a Pakistani cricket sports commentator and former cricketer who served as the 36th Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) from 2021 to 2022. He played international cricket for the Pakistan na ...

, Shoaib Akhtar accepted that Mohammad Zahid was a yard quicker than him when he was bowling in 1997 and after that Shoaib picked up more pace than Zahid, once again fuelling the debate of the speed of Mohammad Zahid and if he may have been one of the fastest bowlers of all time.

Injury

He picked up a back injury in the tour to Sri Lanka and after his back operation could not make his return to the world of cricket. He did come back for a short stint in the series against South Africa in 1998 but had lost his pace considerably and subsequently his line and length, eventually he was dropped from the Pakistan team. Mohammad Zahid Injury also robbed him a county contract of GBP 60,000 which he signed with Nottinghamshire in 1997 just before his stress fracture.

Post First-Class career

Zahid played club cricket for

Sefton Park Cricket Club Sefton Park Cricket Club in south Liverpool, England was formed as Sefton Cricket Club in 1860. As well as being used for Sefton's senior, women's and junior teams' home fixtures, the club hosts Lancashire age group and junior sides, Liverpool C ...

in Liverpool competing in the Liverpool & District Cricket Competition. In the 2014 season he played for Whiston Cricket Club in the South Yorkshire Cricket league. Mohammad Zahid was appointed as a bowling coach in Pakistan Cricket Board's High Performance Center at Lahore in August 2020. On 21 February 2021, he resigned from the position for personal reasons.

References

External links