Biography of Nasser Hussain:- Nasser Hussain is an Anglo-Indian cricketer who was born in the Indian state of Madras (now Chennai) on 28 March 1968 and played for England in International cricket.
Nasser is considered as the most successful English captain, his batting style along with his captaincy was stupendous in its own way. Nasser’s family moved to England when he was a child, Nasser played his entire cricket, from junior school to List-A in England.
He started playing first-class in 1987 and finally got a chance to play for the national side in 1990. England Cricket Board appointed Nasser Hussain as a captain in 1999, and he resigned from the post soon after World Cup 2003 owing to his bad captaincy in the tournament.
See Also: Biography of Andrew Flintoff
Nasser played test cricket as a player and decided to retire from all forms of cricket on May 2004 posting an unbeatable hundred against New Zealand.
Biography of Nasser Hussain
- Born:- 28 March 1968 (age 49), Chennai, India
- Books:- Playing With Fire
- Spouse:- Karen Hussain (m. 1993)
- Education:- Durham University
- Parents:- Raza Jawad Hussain, Shireen Hussain
- Siblings:- Mel Hussain, Benazir Hussain
Nasser Hussain was a leg spinner at the start. He left bowling and concentrated on batting after the successful season as a batsman at the onset of a long career.
Nasser spent his entire domestic career for Essex right from the beginning to the end. After retirement, Nasser Hussain joined Sky Network as a commentator, he is even better on commentary than he was as a cricketer.
Nasser’s shining achievement was his double century in the Ashes 2001-02, and four consecutive Test series win for England as a captain.
Under Nasser’s captaincy, England moved to number 3 in ICC Test Rankings. Simon Barnes, in an interview with The Times Magazine, termed him as the finest ever captain of England.
Nasser Hussain Stats and Records
In 96 test matches, Nasser scored 5,674 runs with a batting average of 37.18. He scored 14 centuries and 33 fifties, had the highest score of 207 against Australia.
In 88 ODIs, Nasser Hussain collected 2,332 runs at an average 30.28, a hundred and 16 half-centuries. His only hundred was his highest score in ODIs that was 115. In 334 First class matches, Nasser scored 20,000+ runs at an average of 42 making 52 tons and 108 fifties. In all first-class matches, Nasser has scored 30,000+ runs.
Domestic and International Career
Nasser Hussain played for Essex Junior teams long before joining the seniors club. He played for Under-11 and Under-15 Essex Juniors Team at the age of 12.
He was the youngest member of Essex Under-15 team. He was a leg spinner by then. Having met with Mike Atherton, his best friend, and International cricketer, both played for different school teams.
His height increased and soon after that, his career in bowling, not even started soon faded within a year. Nasser was a captain of Essex Under-16. He moved up the order, bowled less and batted more.
His batting ability was soon discovered as he made 1000 runs in the season, a record at that level in a calendar year.
In 1990, Nasser Hussain was selected in a test series against England as a replacement player. After that match where he never batted or bowled, he was out of the system for three years. In 1993, a firebrand, Nasser was selected for his impressive domestic track record.
He joined the team in the third Ashes match, his 71 and 47 not out proved the worth and place he deserved and was deprived, but Nasser was out of the scene again for the next three years as his brilliant run in the match wasn’t enough.
After the third comeback, this time batting at number 3 had him running as a crucial wicket of England. His century in the first inning against India and later the man of the match award earned him the respect he needed.
At the end of the series, Nasser Hussain was the talk of the town with his two hundreds and man of the series award.
In 1999, Nasser Hussain was good enough to become England Test captain replacing Alec Stewart. After a year, England tastes their first series victory under Hussain’s captaincy. England defeated West Indies comprehensively by 3-1 at home.
After that, England toured Pakistan and Sri Lanka and beat them in their backyards winning four test series in a row under a relatively young captain. England also moved to third place in ICC Rankings.
In 2003 Cricket World Cup, England was one of the worst performers along with Pakistan. At the end of World Cup 2003, Nasser Hussain stepped down from captaincy and retired later in 2003 from Test captaincy too.
In May 2004, Nasser made a staggering ton against New Zealand in his 96th test, his last one and retired after hitting the winning runs for England.
It is an interesting fact that the most successful test captain for England in future, Andrew Strauss debuted in the match that was the last one for Nasser Hussain.
Post-Retirement Career
After retirement, Nasser Hussain signed a commentary contract with the biggest broadcaster in Sports, Sky Network alongside Ian Botham and Bob Wills.
It was for the first time that four former captains of England were part of commentator’s panel for Sky Sports. In 2011, in a match between England and India, Nasser commented on Indian players calling few of them donkeys in the field that created a stir and rage in India. Nasser was also starred in Akshay Kumar featured movie Patiala House.
Nasser Hussain Family and Personal Life
Nasser Hussain is an Indian Muslim. He was born in India to Raza Jawad Hussain, his father, and Shireen, his mother. His mother is English who converted to Islam before marrying Raza.
Her original name was Patricia Price. Both his brothers, Abbas and Mehriyar played first-class cricket. Nasser married Karen Hussain in 1993. They have two sons, Joel and Jacob, and a daughter, Layla Hussain. The couple married in 1993.
The autobiography of Nasser Hussain was released in 2005. It was named “Playing with Fire” and was so good to read that it won the best autobiography award in the 2005 British Sports Book Awards in England. In his autobiography, Nasser asserted that it was his decision not to play in Zimbabwe.
