Pakistan’s Hanif Mohammad is regarded as the very first Little Master. On Sunday afternoon in London, he received a surprise telephone call from another Little Master, India’s Sunil Gavaskar.
by BIPIN DANI
The former Pakistani captain (1964-67) and opener is being treated for cancer in London.
“Hello, I am Sunil Gavaskar, wishing you a very speedy recovery”, the caller introduced himself.
“Nice to hear from you sir.”
“Please don’t call me sir,” said Gavaskar.
“We chatted for over five minutes and I was highly impressed with his humble and gentle voice,” said Hanif Mohammad.
“He inquired about my progress post surgery, and wished me to recover fully.
“Sunil Gavaskar, being more popular (than me) is the Little Master number one. I am the second”, he added.
Dr Robert Hutchins, a specialist in liver, biliary and pancreatic surgeries has treated Mohammad, operating on him last month in London.
“I feel much better after the successful operation,” continued Hanif Mohammad. “I visited the doctor once and will be seeing the surgeon once next week before returning to Karachi on 18 or 21 August,” he concluded.
“During his rehabilitation here, my dad has been receiving several calls from past cricketers and well wishers,” his son, Shahzeb told us from London.
“Sunil Gavaskar, Rameez Raja, Zaheerr Abbas, Sarfaraz Nawaz, Asif Masood, Asif Iqbal all called to check on my father.
“Geoff Boycott, Mike Brearely and the MCC have either sent messages or flowers to my father and wished him recovery”, the son added.
We’re pleased to add that Hanif is now out of the hospital and is staying with his daughter in London. We wish him a speedy and full recovery.
Bipin Dani
He has toured UAE, Sri Lanka, Morocco and Malaysia, to name a few, and contributes to a large number of newspapers in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
His twitter bio reads: Eat cricket stories, drink cricket stories, sleep cricket stories.
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