Abdul Hafeez Kardar (Urdu: عبد الحفیظ کاردار ) About this soundpronunciation (help·info) or Abdul Kardar (17 January 1925 – 21 April 1996) was an international cricketer, who is one of the only three players to have played Test cricket for both India and Pakistan, the other two being Amir Elahi and Gul Mohammad. He became the first captain of the Pakistan cricket team and is widely regarded as a father figure of Pakistan's cricket. He received the Pride of Performance Award from the Government of Pakistan in 1958. In 2019, Kardar was featured as a Google Doodle on what would have been his 94th birthday.Kardar had been a strong supporter of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and an adherent to the idea of Muslim glory in India. Abdul Hafeez Kardar went into politics and served as the president of the Pakistan Cricket Board in the 1970s. His tenure was notable for increasing representation of Asian and African cricketing nations with the International Cricket Council. Kardar was forced to resign after an embarrassing pay dispute with the players in 1977. He also worked with many charitable and social development causes, and in the last years of his life was assigned as Pakistan's ambassador to Switzerland, prior to his death in his hometown, Lahore in 1996.
Kardar is today credited with popularising the game with common Pakistani people and youth, for his tutelage of some of Pakistan's greatest cricketers, young talent and prodigies, and his stewardship of the Pakistan team and the board in its early years, developing a culture of pride and professionalism. He was also elected to the provincial assembly of Punjab in 1970 on a ticket of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and was also inducted in the provincial cabinet as a minister.
