Some opponents get the wrong idea because I smile a lot. I have never upset anyone in my life

Javed Miandad

England skipper Mike Gatting was never a Javed fan

After the infamous Gatting v Rana confrontation in Faisalabad, former Pakistan cricketer Nazir Mirza accused Javed, who had recently replaced Imran Khan as captain, and Hasseb Ahsan, the national coach, of trying to inflame the row.

"With Imran's departure (as captain)...enter Javed, Hasseb's perfect partner. The two smallest minds, in collusion with the umpires, set out to thrash England and the aim of the establishment is not only to win at all costs but to frustrate the opposition by blatant cheating," Mirza said.

Incident

Martin Johnson, writing about the incident for The Independent, described Javed as "spotting a fire and wading in with a gallon of four star."

But then that is Javed - the player who hit a century in his very first Test match, and later became the youngest Test cricketer to score a Test match double century at only 19 years and four months.

Indeed, before turning 22 he had six Test centuries to his name and at no stage of his career did his average drop below fifty. He was the only player to appear in the first six World Cups.

In such an illustrious career there are too many achievements for there to be a highlight, but the 260 he scored against England at the Oval in 1987 - not his highest Test score - ensured that Pakistan won the five-Test series 1-0.

But two other moments define Javed's career better than any other.

Unbeaten

A quiet moment in the nets at Karachi

The first came after leading Pakistan to victories in the first two Tests of the series against Sri Lanka in 1985/86, which included an unbeaten 203 in the first Test, when he resigned the captaincy saying that he wanted to concentrate on his batting.

Such stories are not uncommon in the fickle world of Pakistani cricket where the side seems to change according to the whims of the selectors.

The second moment came when Javed was dismissed lbw in his 35th Test match in Pakistan. It was the first time that an umpire had dared to raise the finger for a leg-before appeal against Javed in professional cricket on home soil.

If ever there was an untouchable cricketer, it was Javed.