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| Full name | Majid Jahangir Khan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1946-09-28)28 September 1946 (age 79) Ludhiana,Punjab,British India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Test debut (cap 44) | 24 October 1964 v Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 23 January 1983 v India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 4) | 11 February 1973 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 19 July 1982 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:ESPNcricinfo,4 February 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Majid Jahangir Khan (Pashto,Urdu:ماجد جہانگیر خان; born 28 September 1946), nicknamed "Majestic Khan" by the British press, is a formercricketer, batsman and captain of thePakistan national cricket team. In his prime, he was considered to be one of the best batsmen in the world. Khan has been claimed as the best ever opening batsman against express pace, averaging over 50 each in test matches and World Cups when opening against the fearsome pace attacks of the 1970s West Indies and Australia, with all but 2 of these matches played away from home. In his first class cricket career spanning 18 years, from 1961 to 1985, Majid Khan played in 63Test matches forPakistan, scoring 3,931 runs with 8 centuries, scored over 27,000 first-class runs and made 73 first-class centuries, with 128 fifties.[1] Majid played his lastTest forPakistan in January 1983 againstIndia atGaddafi Stadium,Lahore[2] and his lastOne Day International (ODI) was in July 1982 againstEngland atOld Trafford,Manchester.[3]
Majid Jahangir Khan was born on 28 September 1946 inLudhiana, in thePunjab Province ofBritish India (now inPunjab, India) into theBurki tribe ofPashtuns. Khan grew up inLahore, the capital of thePunjab province ofPakistan. His father,Jahangir Khan, had played Test cricket forIndia before thePartition of India in 1947. He is a cousin of former Pakistani Prime MinisterImran Khan, who was also a former captain of thePakistan national cricket team before entering politics.[4] Majid Khan started his career as a pace bowler, but a back injury and doubts over his technique converted him into an off-spin bowler and batsman.[5]
Khan also played forGlamorgan inBritain,Queensland inAustralia, and in Pakistan forPakistan International Airlines,Rawalpindi, Lahore and the province ofPunjab. Whilst playing forGlamorgan in 1969, he was approached to joinUniversity of Cambridge and play cricket for them by two Sri Lankan players. Khan was enrolled toEmmanuel College by a tutor, David Newsome, and read History between 1969 and 1972.[6] He captained the Cambridge University cricket team in 1971 and 1972[7] and had the distinction of being the winning captain against an international touring side, his own national team, Pakistan, in 1971; such a feat was only last achieved by a Cambridge University cricket team in 1927, against the touring New Zealand team.[6] Khan also scored a double century against Oxford University in the 'University Match' in 1970 at theLord's cricket ground.[8]
His father, Dr. Jahangir Khan, famously killed a bird in flight while bowling during an MCC vs. Cambridge University match in 1936.[9][10] This bird is now part of the permanent MCC museum exhibit at Lord's Cricket ground.[11] Dr. Jahangir Khan was the Chief Selector ofthen Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP) when Majid Khan was close to national selection. Dr. Jahangir Khan resigned from his post to maintain the impartiality of the Cricket Board during selection.
In 1964, Majid's Test career started againstAustralia atNational Stadium,Karachi.[12] Majid Khan is one of only six batsmen (the other five areTrumper,Macartney,Bradman,Warner andShikhar Dhawan), to have scored a century before lunch on the first day of a test match, scoring 108 not-out off 78 balls againstNew Zealand in Karachi during the 1976–77 test series.[13][14][15] Khan made his ODI debut against New Zealand in 1973 atLancaster Park, New Zealand.[16] He also holds the unique honour of scoring the first one-daycentury forPakistan, in an ODI againstEngland atTrent Bridge on 31 August 1974.[17][18][19] Khan scored 109 from 93 balls with 16 fours and a six, leading Pakistan to victory.[17][18]
Majid had played for Lahore since 1961–62 and had made his Test debut against Australia in 1964–65 and toured England and Wales with the 1967 Pakistanis. During a match with Glamorgan, Majid blasted a rapid 147 in 89 minutes, hittingRoger Davis for five sixes in one over.Wilf Wooller, the club secretary, had been a close friend of Majid's father when Dr Jahangir Khan had been up at Cambridge, and the influential Glamorgan secretary persuadedGlamorgan county to sign him as the overseas player from 1968.[20][21][22] In 1972 he won theWalter Lawrence Trophy for the season's fastest century which he scored in 70 minutes for Glamorgan against Warwickshire. He captained the Welsh county between 1973 and 1976, scored over 9000 runs punctuated with 21 first-class centuries for them.Imran Khan,[23] the legendary Pakistani ex-captain and fast bowler, andJaved Burki[24] are his cousins.[25]Bazid Khan,[26] Majid's son, has also played for Pakistan, making the family the second, after theHeadleys, to have three consecutive generations of Test cricketers.[25][27]
Initially, Majid Khan continued to boost Pakistan's middle order until he was promoted to fill the opener's slot withSadiq Mohammad in 1974.[28][29] He was the first century scorer for Pakistan in One Day International Cricket, scoring 109 runs against England atTrent Bridge,Nottingham in the same season.[17][18] Majid Khan was also a specialist slip fielder and made most catches look easy. Khan was also well known as a "walker", maintaining the standards of the game in an era when professionalism was straining at the game's traditional etiquette.
The 1976–77 tour of West Indies was the most remarkable period for Majid Khan, where he scored 530 Test runs against one of the most powerful bowling attacks in the history of the game. His best innings was perhaps the 167 in Pakistan's second innings at Georgetown that saved Pakistan from likely defeat. Pakistan lost that series 2–1.[30]
In a 2020 feature on Pakistan’s most stylish batsmen, Shamya Dasgupta describes Majid Khan as an elegant right-hander, “left-hand stylish” in effect, renowned for flowing drives and pulls and a relaxed, sophisticated bearing at the crease; though some critics mistook this for indifference, his long and successful first-class and Test career belied that view.[31]
After retirement from International Cricket, Khan became an administrator with thePakistan Cricket Board, becoming theCEO of the board in the mid-1990s.[27] He was the Chief Selector for Pakistan in 1993. He officiated the Australia and West Indies Test series in 1995 as a match-referee. He was the Chief Executive of the Pakistan Board but resigned after levelling match-fixing allegations against the Pakistan team in the 1999 World Cup. His claims were backed by Sarfraz Nawaz at the time but led to no prosecutions. He now lives in Islamabad.
| Preceded by | Pakistan Cricket Captain 1975 | Succeeded by |
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