Former Pakistan captain Hanif Mohammad dies

Former Pakistan captain Hanif Mohammad has died at the age of 81.

A statement on the ICC website confirmed his death after he had been ill for some time and was this week admitted to a Karachi hospital with respiratory problems.

He had previously been diagnosed with lung cancer, which he had treatment for in London in 2013.

Dubbed the 'Little Master' long before Sachin Tendulkar could lay claim to the tag, Hanif arguably had an even more significant impact on the popularity of cricket in his country.

He retains the record for the longest Test innings in term of time - taking just over 16 hours to piece together a game-saving 337 against West Indies in Bridgetown in 1957 - which is also still the highest score by an Asian batsman outside the sub-continent.

Hanif was born in India, before moving to Karachi with his family as a 13-year-old, and four years later he was making his Test debut against the country of his birth in Pakistan's first-ever Test in 1952.

Despite his tender years, his guarded technique was relied upon to lay the foundations of Pakistan's batting as they adapted to life in the Test ranks.

His impact earned him the reputation as the father of Pakistani cricket, although it was a family affair - remarkably at least one of him or his four brothers were selected to play in Pakistan's first 101 Tests.

Hanif retired after 17 years at the top, having played 55 Tests and scored 12 centuries.

He notched centuries away to every Test nation he played, while he at one point held the highest first-class score of 499, when he was run out.

His son Shoaib Mohammad also played Test cricket for Pakistan and displayed the same powers of concentration as his dad during 45 Tests.

International Cricket Council chief executive David Richardson spoke of his admiration for Mohammad in a statement on the ICC website.

It read: "It's sad to hear of Hanif's death and I'd like to extend my condolences and those of everyone here at the ICC to Hanif's family, which counts so many cricketers in its number.

"Hanif took batting to great heights and many batsmen drew inspiration from him.

"His contribution to the game has been enormous and one can only imagine the kind of impact his batting had on others over the years.

"Hanif's triple-century against the West Indies was a legendary innings and unsurprisingly he was one of the original inductees into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame."