Ranking the 5 Youngest Players to Feature in Tests Based on Their Talent

In honour of the great Pakistani all-rounder Mushtaq Mohammad turning 71, we take a look at the five youngest players to have played Test cricket and rank them in order of their talent.

Some Test cricketing nations are more prepared than others to throw talented youngsters in at the deep end, believing the credo that if you are good enough, you are old enough.

In the list of the youngest-ever Test debutants on ESPN Cricinfo, the first 18 players hail from either Pakistan (10 players), Bangladesh (five players) or India (three players). It is no surprise therefore to find that four of the five youngest players in Test cricket history turned out for Pakistan.

Though each of these five undoubtedly had tremendous natural talent to have achieved a Test call-up at such a young age, this was no guarantee of a long and successful career at the highest level.

While one player broke all number of records in his 200 Test appearances, another played just one more Test.

Here we rank the five players based on their talent, making a judgement considering their exploits in the Test arena and also, for those less successful in this regard, by looking at what they achieved in their first-class careers.

5. Hasan Raza (Pakistan)

Age on Test Debut: 14 years and 227 days (youngest debutant)

Tests Played: 7

Runs Scored: 235

Batting Average: 26.11

Hasan Raza remains the youngest player to have made his debut at Test level, fully 137 days shy of his 15th birthday, and it is almost beyond comprehension to imagine the record ever being broken.

Against Zimbabwe in 1996, the youngster made a promising 27 from 48 balls including five fours in his only innings, but he failed to convince the selectors that picking somebody at such a young age was not folly. 

Raza was not seen again for two years when he only made three in another Test against Zimbabwe before being sent back to the first-class game to learn his trade.

In 2002 he returned to face the great Australian side and top-scored in each innings with 54 not out and 68, but he scored very slowly and lacked the fluency and elegant strokeplay he was renowned for in first-class cricket.

That was as good as it got for Raza in Tests as he failed to cement a place in the Pakistan middle order, playing just seven Tests over a nine-year period where he averaged just 26.11. In ODIs, he failed to do any better, passing 50 just once in 13 innings with a miserable average of 18.61.

In first-class cricket, Raza remained a force with the bat throughout a long career spanning 18 years, amassing 13,422 runs at an average of 45.19 with 36 hundreds, reflecting some fulfillment of the talent that saw him called up to the national side at such a young age.

Raza's right-arm off breaks were distinctly part-time, bringing him 17 wickets at more than 60 runs apiece.

4. Aftab Baloch (Pakistan)

Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

Age on Test Debut: 16 years and 221 days (fifth-youngest debutant)

Tests Played: 2

Runs Scored: 97

Batting Average: 48.5

Surely the unluckiest of the five players considered, right-handed batsman Aftab Baloch played just two Tests and was dropped after his debut in 1969 at the age of 16, having made 25 runs in his only innings.

Baloch would wait six years to represent Pakistan again and, after being dismissed for 12 in the first innings, played a classy innings to make 60 not out against the West Indies.

Since their bowling attack featured the legendary Andy Roberts and Lance Gibbs, bowlers who shared more than 500 Test wickets, this was no mean feat, but Baloch was not called upon at Test level again and never represented Pakistan in limited-overs cricket either.

At first-class level, he had a prosperous career and has the distinction of being one of only eight players to have passed 400 runs in a single first-class innings, having made 428 for Sind in Karachi in 1974. With Don Bradman, Brian Lara and Hanif Mohammad also on the list, he is in exalted company.

In first-class cricket, Baloch made 9,171 runs at an average of 41.68 with 20 centuries. Though his record with the bat was slightly inferior to Hasan Raza, he ranks above him in terms of talent for his notable contributions as an off-spinner.

Baloch took 223 first-class wickets at a respectable average of 31.62, registering 11 five-wicket hauls and taking 10 wickets in a match twice. This puts him above the ranks of a part-time bowler and, at first-class level at least, identifies him as a genuinely talented all-rounder.

3. Aaqib Javed (Pakistan)

Age on Test Debut: 16 years and 189 days (third-youngest debutant)

Tests Played: 22

Wickets taken: 54

Bowling Average: 34.7

The exception in a list of young batsmen and batting all-rounders who offered a spin-bolwing option, Aaqib Javed was a talented seam bowler who could swing the ball both ways. 

Playing in the era of legendary Pakistani pace duo Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram, Aaqib never quite made the grade at Test level, taking 54 wickets at 34.7 in his 22 Tests with one five-for. His first-class figures are more impressive, with 358 wickets at 26.66 apiece.

Unlike the previous two players on the list, however, Aaqib still demonstrated his talent on the international stage as an effective and, on occasion, destructive limited-overs bowler.

His record of 182 wickets at 31.43 with four five-wicket hauls reflects a degree of international pedigree, and he demonstrated this on the grandest of stages when he excelled in place of the injured Waqar Younis in the 1992 World Cup final.

With Pakistan defending 249 against England, Aaqib was the most economical bowler by far, taking 2/27 from his 10 overs as every other bowler went for more than four per over. He also claimed the key scalp of Neil Fairbrother for 62, the only England player who really got going and could have led his side to victory.

The most striking exhibition of his great talent came against India at Sharjah in 1991 where Aaqib produced a display of great skill to produce what was at the time the best bowling in a one-day international with 7/37 as per ESPN Cricinfo, figures that would not be bettered for nine years.

2. Mushtaq Mohammad (Pakistan)

Age on Test Debut: 15 years and 124 days (second-youngest debutant)

Tests Played: 57

Runs Scored: 3,643

Batting Average: 39.17

Wickets taken: 79

Bowling Average: 29.22

Mushtaq Mohammad was a supremely talented all-rounder who had a fine record in both Tests and first-class cricket and, unlike those ranked below him, applied his talent to make an impression in Tests from an early age.

After an underwhelming debut against the West Indies in March 1959, Mushtaq made an indelible mark in the five-Test series in India that followed in December 1960.

He made 61 in his fourth Test before becoming the youngest Test centurion in his fifth aged 17 years and 61 days, as per ESPN Cricinfo, a record that would last for 40 years.

Mushtaq went on to make a further nine centuries for Pakistan in a total of 57 Tests, with 3,643 runs coming at a highly respectable average of 39.17.

His first-class record, including a long spell with Northamptonshire, was exceptional. He compiled 31,091 runs at 42.07 with 72 hundreds and a top score of 303 not out. As captain, he led Northants to their first-ever trophy, winning the limited-overs Gillette Cup competition in 1976.

As a specialist batsman, this record alone would place him second on this list based on talent, but he had another highly effective string to his bow as a leg-spinner with impressive variations.

In Tests, he took 79 wickets at 29.22, almost exactly 10 runs lower than his batting average which is seen by many as the acid test of a genuine all-rounder. In first-class cricket, his record as a spinner was better still, with 936 wickets at 24.34 including 39 five-fors.

Mushtaq Mohammad was clearly a very talented cricketer across disciplines, and he demonstrated this to great effect with bat and ball at both Test and first-class level over a highly fulfilling career spanning 24 years.

1. Sachin Tendulkar (India)

Age on Test Debut: 16 years and 205 days (fourth-youngest debutant)

Tests Played: 200

Runs Scored: 15,921

Batting Average: 53.78

The man known as "The Little Master" would make a strong case for heading a list of the most talented cricketers of all time, and Sachin Tendulkar tops this talent-based ranking of the youngest five Test debutants comfortably.

The statistics speak for themselves as Tendulkar eked every drop of his prodigious talent to top many of the all-time batting records found on ESPN Cricinfo.

He ended his illustrious career as the most capped Test cricketer with 200 caps and as the leading run-scorer in Tests with 15,921 and in one-day internationals with 18,426. He has also made more centuries than anyone in both formats with 51 in Tests and 49 in ODIs.

"

For a man with prodigious batting talent Tendulkar still worked at his batting like he had none #FarewellSachin

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) November 14, 2013"

Tendulkar was a phenomenon who carried the hopes and expectations of a nation on his shoulders with effortless grace from the day he debuted as a fresh-faced 16-year-old.

After making four half-centuries in his first eight Test matches, Tendulkar registered a sparkling ton against England at Old Trafford at the age of 17 and never looked back.

He was the youngest man to reach three figures since Mushtaq Mohammad 29 years previously, and for the next 23 years, Tendulkar would delight crowds the world over with his astonishing talent, the like of which the cricket world may never see again.

All statistics taken from ESPN Cricinfo