Qamar Ahmed, one of cricket journalism’s most enduring figures, passed away on Thursday in Karachi after a cardiac-related illness. He was 88. Known affectionately as “Q” among colleagues, Qamar had been hospitalised on 2 June after experiencing heart problems and underwent angioplasty, before passing away quietly in his sleep. His funeral prayers were held at Masjid Bait-ul-Salam in DHA Phase IV after Maghrib prayer.
Born in Bihar in 1937, Qamar was the fifth of nine children. His family migrated to Pakistan following the end of British rule and settled in Hyderabad, Sindh, where he would begin both his cricketing and journalistic careers.
As a slow left-arm orthodox spinner, Qamar played 17 first-class matches for Hyderabad over seven years, taking 36 wickets before his playing career ended in 1962-63. Among his notable feats with the ball was dismissing all of the Mohammad brothers, including the great Hanif Mohammad.
He subsequently moved to England in the early 1960s and embarked on a journalistic career that would span six decades. Working as a freelance reporter and broadcaster, he contributed to some of the world’s most prominent media organisations, including the BBC, Reuters and AFP, travelling widely to cover international cricket. He also worked for TV New Zealand during the 1992 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which Pakistan won under Imran Khan’s captaincy, and covered every 50-over World Cup from 1975 through to 2007.
The milestone that perhaps best encapsulates his remarkable career came in January 2014, when the third Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Sharjah became his 400th Test match as a working journalist — a landmark reached by very few reporters in the history of the game. Beyond Pakistan cricket, he was present for Sunil Gavaskar’s 10,000th Test run, Richard Hadlee’s 400th wicket, Anil Kumble’s 10 wickets in a single innings, cricket’s 1,000th Test and its 2,000th in 2011.
He was also on the ground in Lahore in March 2009 during the terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus, one of cricket’s darkest days.
As a writer, Qamar produced several books, including the Pakistan Book of Cricket annual from 1976 to 1998-99, Testing Times, Showdown and Golden Greats of Pakistan Cricket. His autobiography, Far More than a Game, published in 2020, chronicled his life in cricket and touched on major controversies including the Kerry Packer revolution and the 2009 Lahore attack.
