Kenyan-born Qasim Umer was a former elegant, right-handed middle-order batsman. Though he had the ability to play at any number,. In many matches, he opens the innings for Pakistan as well. He was born on February 9, 1957, in Nairobi, Kenya. He was the first black cricketer to represent Pakistan in Test and ODI cricket. Qasim Ali Umer played 26 Test matches and 31 ODI’s between 1983 and 1987.
In 1957, Qasim Umer migrated to Pakistan with his family. Qasim Umer matriculated from the esteemed private boys’ school, St. Paul’s English High School, on a cricket scholarship in 1974. His facial features were black, as his mother was Kenyan, and he was often mistaken for a member of the Sheedi Community. In the 1983–84 Pakistan tour to Australia, he scored a sensational knock of 113 runs at Sydney against powerful Australian pace bowling.
Qasim Umar’s scored a brilliant 210 against arch-rival India at Faisalabad in 1984–85. However, during his innings, he also set a record second-wicket partnership of 250 with Mudassar Nazar. This was also a record individual test score at Faisalabad, equally shared with Taslim Arif. In 1985–86, he produced another fabulous inning of 203, at Faisalabad, against Sri Lanka. In a record partnership of 397 runs without being bowled, Qasim Umer finished on 203 and Javed Miandad on 206. Moreover, in 1984–85, Qasim Umer was extremely unlucky to miss hundreds against New Zealand in the Third Test at Dunedin, out for 96 and 89. He looks like a Caribbean guy, so Larasque, brilliant to whip the ball, and his beautiful cover drives are stunning the crowds. What a talent he was.
In 1987, he was banned due to his involvement in a spot-fixing scandal. So, he left Pakistan and settled down in the UK, the third country of his life. Qasim Umer accepted gifts and allegations from some teammates involved in sexual relations with prostitutes in return for underperforming in specific matches. Even Pakistani captain Imran Khan was accused of laundering drugs from their kits to the United Kingdom. In the 1983–84 Pakistan tour to India, Qasim Umer made his test debut in the 2nd Test match of the series at Jalandhar. He scored only 15 runs when Syed Kirmani took a fine catch off Roger Binny’s bowling.
He played 26 test matches in four years and scored 1,502 runs at 36.62 with two double centuries, one century, five fifties, and 15 catches. In 31 ODI’s, he scored 642 runs @ 22.92 with the best of 69 off 78 balls against the West Indies, 4 fifties, and 4 catches under his credit. Qasim Umer had appeared in 98 first-class matches and scored 6,809 runs @ 42.29, with the best of 210*, including 18 hundred, 31 fifties, and 71 catches. In 58 List-A matches, he scored 1,661 runs at 31.94 with the best of 102, one hundred, 11 fifties, and 9 catches.
In 1986, against the mighty West Indies side, he went through a slump, barring his 48 on a bouncy track in Faisalabad against Tony Grey, Malcolm Marshall, Patrick Patterson, and Courtney Walsh. He contributed a precious 84 runs with Javed Miandad. This partnership turned out to be very crucial as Abdul Qadir and Imran Khan bowled out the West Indies for a meager 53. The lowest West Indies total in Test cricket. In 1985–86, Qasim Umer became the first player to make claims about the impact of recreational and performance-increasing drugs in cricket. KMC named a fly-over near National Stadium, Karachi in 2018.
