When Imran Khan, Majid Khan, and Zaheer Abbas ‘rebelled’ against captain Javed Miandad

At the age of twenty-two, cricketers usually make their debut, but Javed Miandad was appointed as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team at this age. This bold decision was taken by Air Marshal Noor Khan, the head of the Cricket Board at that time.

In fact, under the leadership of Asif Iqbal, Pakistan had to face a 2-nil defeat in the 1979 tour of India in a series of 6 Test matches.

This defeat of the Pakistani team, consisting of big names, disgusted the cricket board and the fans. The cricket board made Mr.Javed the captain but it was not easy for the senior cricketers to accept this decision.

Imran Khan says in the book Imran: The Autobiography of Imran Khan with Patrick Murphy: ‘After the worst performance of the team in the tour of India, he was not so happy about the appointment of Javed Miandad as captain, Majid Khan seemed the obvious choice but India His performance was poor. ‘

In his autobiography Cutting Edge, Javed Miandad has pointed out the same aspect and has written, “Some people were hurt by the decision to appoint me as captain.”

Javed Miandad’s gesture was definitely towards the senior cricketers.

Under the leadership of Javed Miandad, Pakistan won the home series against Australia, but the return tour of Australia almost two years later proved disappointing for the young captain.

When Imran Khan, Majid Khan, and Zaheer Abbas ‘rebelled’ against captain Javed Miandad

1981 tour of Australia

The 1981 tour of Australia formed the basis of the revolt against Javed Miandad. Under the leadership of Javed Miandad, Pakistan won the home series against Australia.

Left-arm sniper Iqbal Qasim writes in his book ‘Iqbal Qasim and Cricket’, ‘I saw Javed Miandad looking quite dull, maybe because he was made the captain outside the country for the first time was sent, let me make it clear that it is very easy to manage a team in one’s own country, but in another country, the captain has a lot of responsibility.

Iqbal Qasim also talks about the relationship between team manager Ejaz Butt and Javed Miandad and writes, “I felt that Javed Miandad was giving interviews to newspapers alone.

Ejaz Butt did not help in this regard, as soon as he arrived in Australia, it was realized that the passion and enthusiasm that should have been there was not seen in the team.

The team split into factions before the series. During the practice matches before the Test series against Australia, there was a repetition between Javed Miandad and Zaheer Abbas in front of the players.

According to Iqbal Qasim,

According to Iqbal Qasim, ‘In the second first-class match which was played against Queensland. A ball from Thomson hit Zaheer Abbas on the chest. In this match, Zaheer Abbas showed good batting but he refused to bat at number three. According to him, he had informed the board before the team was selected that he would not bat at number three, Javed Miandad was not aware of this.

In the match against Victoria in Melbourne, Zaheer Abbas was chosen as the captain of the team as Javed Miandad was not playing the match.

During this time an unfortunate incident happened. What happened was that Zaheer Abbas who was the captain went from the field to the hotel without telling anyone and Javed Miandad took notice of it.

Javed Miandad was Pakistan’s most successful batsman in the series but the series went to Australia two to one. Zaheer Abbas was called from the hotel and Javed Miandad and Zaheer Abbas had a fight in front of all the boys, Ijaz Butt watched the show. In this way, the repetition between the senior players not only gave an idea of ​​the environment of the new players, but the boys started dividing into factions.

Pakistan lost the Test series. Pakistan lost the first two Test matches, Pakistan won the third Test match played in Melbourne.

Javed Miandad was Pakistan’s most successful batsman in the series but the series went to Australia two to one.

At the end of the tour, the cricket board accused the players of non-cooperation. The cricketers were upset on this statement of the board.

According to Imran Khan

According to Imran Khan, ‘When we returned home from the Australia tour, the whole team was surprised that Javed was retained as the captain, then the board issued a statement that we failed in Australia because the senior players did not cooperate with the captain. did not We were all angry at this insulting statement, we could not accept this public statement.

A message from the cricketers to Javed Miandad As the first Test against Sri Lanka approached, a camp was set up in Lahore. The players realized that the Cricket Board is standing with Javed Miandad.

Rumors were everywhere in the team hotel, Zaheer Abbas’s flight from Karachi to Lahore was delayed and the drama around this ‘mysterious statement’ went on for a long time. I didn’t know what to do in this situation, I felt alone.’

Javed Miandad believed that there are still some of his sympathizers in the team. When Iqbal Qasim came to meet him at night, seeing his old friend in a difficult time gave him life.

Iqbal Qasim told Javed Miandad that everyone has signed a statement refusing to play under your captaincy.

I asked Iqbal who you stand with, he replied that he is also with the rebel group.

According to Javed Miandad, Iqbal Qasim gave him an ultimatum on behalf of the rebel cricketers to give up the captaincy, otherwise the news of the mutiny would be in the morning papers.

And there was a revolt when Javed Miandad returned Iqbal Qasim empty handed, the players decided to revolt against Javed Miandad. Imran Khan tells in the book ‘Imran’ that ‘We ten players issued their statement, in which they questioned Javed Miandad’s ability to lead the team and decided not to play under his leadership, Majid Khan was appointed as spokesperson. has been. The press started beating the old drum of silence between the cricketers of Lahore and Karachi. The board refused to back down.

Before the third Test match, Javed Miandad decided to step down as captain to reunite the team. (Photo: Courtesy Dawn) The rebel players included Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Sarfraz Nawaz, Wasim Bari, Mohsin Hasan Khan, Mudassar Nazr, Imran Khan, Wasim Raja, Sikandar Bakht and Iqbal Qasim. Iqbal Qasim and Waseem Raja later ended the mutiny under pressure from their department and became part of the team.

How was the middle way taken out? The head of the cricket board, Air Marshal Retired Noor Khan, refused to bow down to the players and decided to form a new team by keeping all the players out of the team.

Four players made their debut in the first Test against Sri Lanka. Pakistan won the first test.

According to Javed Miandad, before the second Test match, he received reports that Imran Khan was eager to play the match, but the coup organizers were pressuring him to stay out of the team. The second match was a draw.

Before the third Test, Javed Miandad decided to step down as captain to reunite the team even though the Cricket Board was fully on his side.

Javed Miandad informed Noor Khan about his decision. Noor Khan instructed Javed Miandad to captain till the end of the series.

As soon as this decision was made, all the rebel players returned to the team, in the third Test against Sri Lanka, Javed Miandad was the captain and the rebel players were playing under his leadership.

The decision to appoint 29-year-old Imran Khan as captain was disappointing for Zaheer Abbas. Javed Miandad writes in ‘Cutting Edge’, “I decided to quit the captaincy against the wishes of the Pakistan Cricket Board.” PCB was totally with me and wanted to retain me as captain, there were differences in the team and if I continued as captain then Pakistan cricket would be the ultimate victim which was unacceptable to me. I stepped aside to give place to another leader.

Who will be the new captain? Before the announcement of the captain, retired air marshal Noor Khan asked Javed Miandad for his opinion on who should be his successor, then Javed Miandad suggested the name of Imran Khan.

There were also rumors that Javed Miandad had threatened that he would not play if Zaheer Abbas was appointed captain.

Air Marshal Noor Khan decided to appoint 29-year-old Imran Khan as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team. The move was disappointing for senior cricketer Zaheer Abbas. Imran Khan remained the captain of the Pakistan cricket team for the next ten years, during which Zaheer Abbas was also entrusted with the leadership of the team when he suffered a serious injury.