Munawwar-ul-Haq passes away at 76

Former first-class player and newspaper columnist Munawwar-ul-Haq passed away in Karachi on Monday night. He was 76 years old.

Munawwar played for Punjab in the inaugural Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in 1953-54. In the final against Bahawalpur in January 1954 Munawwar, batting at No. 6, got his highest first-class of 49. As a close-in fielder he also took four catches in the Bahawalpur first innings. Next season he represented Sind in a tour match against the visiting Indians in Hyderabad.

But Munawwar only played three first-class matches, in which he scored 78 runs at 13, before quitting the game for business commitments. He was the president for the Karachi Cricket Association in the 1970s, a life member of the Pakistan board and a member of the MCC. He was a long-time cricket columnist for Pakistan newspaper the Daily Times.

He came from a cricketing family with his father, Ahsan-ul-Haq, having opened the batting for the MCC in 1901 and then played for Middlesex in 1902. Iman-ul-Haq, Munawwar's older brother, played first-class cricket in pre-Partition India.