Javed Miandad steps out to clear the boundary, six of 280 runs at Hyderabad in 1982-83. It was his only six of the innings, but he was present at the crease for an awfully long time: eleven-and-a-half hours. The fall of wickets tells you something: 1-60 (Mohsin Khan), 2-60 (Haroon Rashid), 3-511 (Mudassar Nazar). In one gig together, Javed and Mudassar both made just 11 fewer than all of India's runs that Test. India lost the game in the mind and an innings-defeat followed. The unbeaten 280 remained Miandad's defining knock in Tests, and this image - standing still with his arms raised, eyes squinting to follow the ball's trajectory - could be from any game involving him and India. He'd have rather reached his 300, a mark he believed was denied to him by Imran Khan's declaration; so aggrieved was he by the declaration that he dedicated an entire chapter of an autobiography to Imran's decision.

© Wisden Cricket Monthly