Rashid Israr
{{Short description|Indian-born Pakistani cricketer (born 1953)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Rashid Israr
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|7|1|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, India
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling = {{ubl|Right-arm medium}}
| role = Occasional Wicket-keeper
| club1 = Pakistan International Airlines B
| year1 = 1971/72
| club2 = Public Works Departmnet
| year2 = {{nowrap|1972/73–1974/75}}
| club3 = Sind, incl. Sind A and Sind B
| year3 = {{nowrap|1973/74–1975/76}}
| club4 = Pakistan Universities
| year4 = 1973/74
| club5 = Karachi Whites
| year5 = 1974/75
| club6 = Habib Bank Limited
| year6 = {{nowrap|1975/76–1977/78}}
| club7 = Pakistan International Airlines
| year7 = {{nowrap|1978/79–1986/87}}
| columns = 2
| column1 = First-class
| matches1 = 91
| runs1 = 4,905
| bat avg1 = 39.87
| 100s/50s1 = 11/20
| top score1 = 350
| deliveries1 = 84
| wickets1 = 1
| bowl avg1 = 48.00
| fivefor1 = 0
| tenfor1 = 0
| best bowling1 = 1/9
| catches/stumpings1 = 81/8
| column2 = List A
| matches2 = 21
| runs2 = 152
| bat avg2 = 15.20
| 100s/50s2 = 0/0
| top score2 = 29
| deliveries2 = 252
| wickets2 = 6
| bowl avg2 = 29.50
| fivefor2 = 0
| tenfor2 = 0
| best bowling2 = 2/28
| catches/stumpings2 = 13/1
| date = 23 February
| year = 2025
| source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/43/43189/43189.html CricketArchive
}}
Rashid Israr (born 1 July 1953) is an Indian-born Pakistani retired cricketer. He played for 16 seasons in domestic cricket, between 1971 and 1987, as a specialist batter who often kept wicket. Israr scored eleven centuries during his career and has one of the highest scores recorded in a first-class match in Pakistan.
Early career
Born in Sitapur in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on 1 July 1953,{{cite web|title=Rashid Israr Profile|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/rashid-israr-42539|website=ESPNcricinfo|publisher=ESPN Inc.|access-date=23 February 2025}} Israr was the younger brother of Shahid Israr, who played a single Test match for Pakistan in 1976.{{cite web|title=Ex-Test wicket-keeper Shahid Israr passes away|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/794794/ex-test-wicket-keeper-shahid-israr-passes-away|date=30 April 2013|website=Dawn|publisher=Dawn Media Group|access-date=23 February 2025}} Israr made his debut in Pakistani cricket during the 1971/72 BCCP Trophy as part of a B squad for the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) departmental team.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=First-Class Matches played by Rashid Israr|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/43/43189/First-Class_Matches.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}} In the match, he scored 34 and 19 in his two innings of batting.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=Karachi Whites v Pakistan International Airlines B in 1971/72|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/32/32209.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}} He moved on to the Public Works Department (PWD) side for the 1972/73 event, which was renamed the BCCP Patron's Trophy by this time, and, in three matches, scored three half-centuries in four innings at the crease.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=First-Class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Rashid Israr|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/43/43189/f_Batting_by_Season.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}}
During the mid-1970s, Israr represented multiple teams simultaneously, often depending on the competition he was playing in. While representing PWD again in the 1973/74 Patron's Trophy, he also represented Sind{{efn|Sind was the English spelling for what is now the Sindh province at the time Rashid played for them.{{cite web|title=Sindh, not Sind|url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/506227/sind-not-sindh|publisher=The Express Tribune|date=12 February 2013|access-date=23 February 2025}}}} in the newly-formed Pentangular Trophy; in the former, he made his first career century, taking around nine and a half hours to score an unbeaten 211 against Hyderabad.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=Hyderabad v Public Works Department in 1973/74|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/33/33850.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}} Overall, he finished the year with a batting average of 61.71 in five total matches. The following season, he represented three different teams in four different competitions: PWD in the Patron's Trophy, Sind in the Pentangular Trophy and the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy,{{efn|In the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Rashid's team was known as Sind A, as a Sind B side also appeared in the event.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 1974/75|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/3/Quaid-e-Azam_Trophy_1974-75.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}}}} and a Karachi Whites team in the final of the Kardar Summer Shield, a short-lived event where only the final was considered a first-class match.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=Kardar Summer Shield 1974/75|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/8/Kardar_Summer_Shield_1974-75.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}} Between all four competitions, he scored 663 runs in 11 matches at an average of 39.00.
Middle career
Israr appeared in eight different competitions in Pakistan during the 1975/76 season, five with first-class status and three with List A status,{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=List A Matches played by Rashid Israr|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/43/43189/List_A_Matches.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}}{{efn|Among first-class competitions, Rashid appeared in the Sikandar Ali Bhutto Cup, Patron's Trophy, and Abdul Sattar Pirzada Memorial Trophy with HBL, the Pentangular Trophy with Sind, and the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy with Sind's B side. In all three List A competitions on offer that year, the Servis Cup, Habib Bank Gold Cup, and United Bank Trophy, Rashid appeared with HBL.}} which he split between two teams representing Sind and the Habib Bank Limited cricket team (HBL). His overall numbers in first-class matches fell to 417 runs in a season, with his batting average falling nearly seven points to 32.07. In seven List A matches, he only managed a high of 29 runs in an innings, with 67 runs total.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=List A Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Rashid Israr|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/43/43189/a_Batting_by_Season.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}}
In the 1976/77 campaign, Israr spent the full domestic season with HBL. He would set a personal best that year with 911 runs in 10 matches, a total that ranked third among all domestic cricketers in Pakistan behind Javed Miandad and Mohsin Khan; both were teammates of Israr's at HBL at times during the year.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=First-class Batting and Fielding in Pakistan for 1976/77|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Seasons/Seasonal_Averages/PAK/1976-77_f_Batting_by_Runs.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}} In helping the team win the Patron's Trophy against the National Bank of Pakistan cricket team, he scored 350 in an innings during the final.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=Habib Bank Limited v National Bank of Pakistan in 1976/77|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36868.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}} He stayed at the crease for roughly twelve and a half hours of match time to score his total before being dismissed.{{cite web|title=Longest Individual First Class Innings|url=https://i.imgci.com/link_to_database/STATS/FC/BATTING/BAT_LONGEST_INDIV_INNS.html|date=c. 2001|website=ESPNcricinfo|publisher=ESPN Inc.|accessdate=23 February 2025}} At the time, Israr's 350 was the third-highest score in Pakistan's domestic cricket history, behind only the then-world record of 499 by Hanif Mohammad in 1959{{efn|Hanif's 499 was later passed by Brian Lara in his unbeaten 501 in 1994.{{cite web|title=First-Class Double-Hundreds by Score|url=https://stats.acscricket.com/Records/First_Class/Overall/Batting/Double_Hundreds_by_Score.html|website=The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians|access-date=23 February 2025}}}} and a score of 428 by Aftab Baloch in 1974.{{cite web|title=First-Class Double-Hundreds in Pakistan by Score|url=https://stats.acscricket.com/Records/First_Class/Overall/Batting/Double_Hundreds_in_Pakistan_by_Score.html|website=The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians|access-date=23 February 2025}}{{efn|As of 2025, it is the fourth highest score on Pakistani soil; Naved Latif would later score 394 in a 2000 match.}} Coincidentally, Aftab was responsible for dismissing Israr by stumping him to end his innings. Israr's 1977/78 season was his final one with HBL.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=Teams Rashid Israr played for|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/43/43189/all_teams.html|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}} While appearing in two more matches than the previous campaign, he managed over 300 fewer runs, though his batting average remained above his career numbers.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=Rashid Israr|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/43/43189/43189.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}}
Late career
For the 1978/79 season, Israr rejoined PIA's cricket team. In his first Quaid-e-Azam match for the side, he scored his third and final double-century against Punjab,{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=Punjab v Pakistan International Airlines in 1978/79|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/38/38701.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}}{{cite web|title=First-Class Double-Hundreds in Pakistan by Date|url=https://stats.acscricket.com/Records/First_Class/Overall/Batting/Double_Hundreds_in_Pakistan_by_Date.html|website=The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians|access-date=23 February 2025}} en route to a 648-run season that saw him record his highest batting average, 72.00, over a full season. The season also included his final century, an unbeaten 174, during a Patron's Trophy match against Multan that was conceded to PIA before the innings could finish.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=Multan v Pakistan International Airlines in 1978/79|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/38/38932.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}}
His runs and appearances would decline sharply over the rest of his tenure with PIA, starting with a 1979/80 season that was limited to four matches and featured his lowest season batting average at the time. Seven matches and over 350 runs followed the next year, though an improved 35.80 average was still below average for his career. From 1981 to 1985, he would fail to reach 200 runs in a season. Despite this, he appeared in his only match outside of Pakistan during 1981/82, when PIA toured Zimbabwe to play first-class and List A matches against their cricket team;{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=Pakistan International Airlines in Zimbabwe 1981/82|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/3/Pakistan_International_Airlines_in_Zimbabwe_1981-82.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}} his lone first-class match saw him total eight runs, two more than he would score in his two one-day matches combined.
After not appearing in a match during the 1985/86 year, he reappeared for PIA at the end of the following season in 1987, when he was chosen for their PACO Cup{{efn|The PACO Cup was the sponsored name of the Patron's Trophy when the Pakistan Automobile Corporation had naming rights for it in the 1980s.{{cite web|title=A brief history ...|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/a-brief-history-261448|website=ESPNcricinfo|date=5 October 2006|author=Balachandran, Kanishkaa|publisher=ESPN Inc.|access-date=23 February 2025}}}} final match against United Bank Limited. In the match, ultimately a win for PIA, he managed 20 runs in the two innings combined.{{cite web|url-access=subscription|title=Pakistan International Airlines v United Bank Limited in 1986/87|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/48/48428.html|website=CricketArchive|access-date=23 February 2025}} Overall, his career ended with 4,905 first-class runs, in addition to 152 in List A matches.
Notes
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References
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Category:Pakistan International Airlines B cricketers
Category:Public Works Department cricketers
Category:Pakistan Universities cricketers
Category:Karachi Whites cricketers