Who was Pakistan's first non-Muslim cricketer? He took more than 100 catches in his career, then died like this.

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Pakistan played its first international cricket match in 1952. The world of cricket has many star players from Pakistan so far, including the names of legends like Imran Khan, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, and Shoaib Akhtar. In recent times, all the cricketers in the Pakistan team are Muslims. But there have been some cricketers in the Pakistan cricket team who have become a part of this team despite being non-Muslims. Whenever it comes to non-Muslim cricketers of Pakistan, the name of Danish Kaneria comes to everyone's mind, who is a Hindu. However, the first non-Muslim player to play cricket for Pakistan was not a Hindu but belonged to the Christian religion.

Pakistan's first non-Muslim cricketer

The first non-Muslim player to play in the Pakistan cricket team was Wallis Mathias. He made his Test debut for Pakistan in November 1955 at the age of 20. He was also the first Christian cricketer to play Test cricket for Pakistan. He played international cricket for Pakistan from 1955 to 1962. Apart from this, he also played more than 100 first class matches in his career. Let us tell you, that Wallis Mathias was born on 4 February in Karachi.

Wallis Mathias' greatest ability was his fielding. He was considered a safe hand in the slips, which was extremely important for Pakistan's strong fast bowlers of that era. He was a middle-order batsman. But his performance as a batsman was not very special. He played 21 Tests for Pakistan and scored 783 runs at an average of only 23.72, which included 3 half-centuries. During this period, he took a total of 22 catches.

More than 100 catches in first class cricket

Wallis Mathias scored 7,520 runs in 146 first class matches at an average of 44.49, which included 16 centuries. He also took 130 catches during this period. He was a popular captain and a very respected person in domestic cricket. In 1969-70, he also became the first captain of the National Bank team and then also played the role of coach, selector and manager. He died on 01 September 1994 in Karachi. He said goodbye to this world at the age of 59 due to a brain hemorrhage.