by Abhishek Mukherjee

Javed Miandad Miandad scored 8,832 runs for Pakistan, at 52.57. Throughout that career his Test batting average never dropped below fifty.

There were also 7,381 ODI runs including a World Cup record (at that point) of 1,083. He remains the only batsman to score nine consecutive ODI fifties.

And there are too many achievements in First-Class cricket to list.

He is probably the greatest batsman Pakistan has ever produced. Or probably not. But definitely one of the greatest.

Part of his greatness lies in the psychological pressure he put on the opposition – while batting.

Viv Richards could demolish an opposition with his willow – and body language. Miandad did the same, perhaps a tad more, as Gideon Haigh would tell you: "Richards merely made it look as though you weren't good enough to bowl to him. Miandad said it to your face.."

It was psychological pressure of a different sort. He looked at ease before he faced the first ball. Then, once there, he sang, laughed, whistled, chatted with the fielders, all the while making batting look ridiculously easy. He was on a hundred, and the match was Pakistan's before you could figure out what he had been up to.

Miandad also led Pakistan before Imran Khan. He was ousted following a 'coup' led by Imran, generally recognised as Pakistan's greatest ever captain.

However, Miandad's numbers as captain (14 wins, 6 defeats) make better reading than Imran's (14 and 6). One must remember that Miandad almost never opted out when Imran led, Imran did not always return the favour.

*

Miandad used to sledge while batting. Dilip Doshi was a favourite, but then, Doshi was not a difficult "target". Ian Chappell was.

Tony Greig once put Miandad right under Chappell's nose during a World Series match. Miandad kept talking in loud Urdu, using the words "Ian Chappell" from time to time. None of the Urdu was abusive, but that was not important. What mattered was that Chappell thought Miandad had been abusing him. He holed out to deep mid-wicket.

We know about the ugly clash with Dennis Lillee (who had started it) all too well. On another occasion, Rodney Hogg played the ball to Miandad at point and walked out to pat the pitch. Miandad ran him out. Hogg kicked the stumps before leaving. Miandad taunted Hogg as he left.

And we have seen how he went overboard during his tussle with Kiran More.

Was he a tad too competitive? He answers that – to some extent – in his autobiography: "As far as I was concerned, cricket was war and I was at war whenever I played."

*

Miandad saved his best for the Indians. Ask any Indian fan from the 1980s, and they will tell you that no moment had hit them as hard as that last-ball six off Chetan Sharma.

Till that match India had won 8 matches against Pakistan and lost 7. Starting that match, till the 1997 Sahara Cup, the head-to-head read 26-8 in Pakistan's favour. It is for a reason that his autobiography has a chapter called Wars With India.

I sometimes narrate a story about my mother, who had introduced me to cricket. India were running away with the match in the 1996 World Cup quarter-final. Miandad was struggling in his last ODI innings. His strike rate was around 60.

But my mother still refused to believe: "Do not be complacent. This man can win every match." The television commentators did not sound too enthusiastic either...

Years later, when I shared this, I realised how many people across India believed that Miandad could win the match from that near-impossible situation. The ghosts of that six were not exorcised till the man retired.

We Indians loved to see his back. We hated his presence at the crease – because we were, unknowingly or otherwise, in awe of his batsmanship. We refused to admit to it, but we knew, every time, what we were up against. His was the wicket to take.

And what annoyed us most that he did not seem to feel one bit of the pressure. He would smile and whistle his way to glory; and yet, when the willow flashed, you could almost see the bayonet behind it every time.

Javed Miandad was born on 12 June 1957. We are unlikely to see another of his kind.