Bhutto was useful right-handed batsman, played for Mumbai club

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a useful right-handed batsman, who played for the Sunder Cricket Club in Bombay and University of California and was occasionally used as opener, says a new book on the country's cricket history.
Had he gone to Oxford first for his studies instead of California he could have earned a place in the cricket team of the university and the famous Blue, it also says.
Oxford has been graced by some of the most famous cricketers of all time, producing many Blues who have gone on to represent their country such as Imran Khan, Douglas Jardine, and Mike Smith.

"Wounded Tiger: A History of Cricket in Pakistan" by British journalist Peter Oborne is an insight into the nation's tryst with the game, digging deep into the political, social and cultural history and is packed with memories from former players and top administrators.
"Bhutto was more than a star-struck fan. He was also a useful right-handed batsman, who played for the Sunder Cricket Club in Bombay, where he was occasionally used as opener. In his autobiography, Abdul Hafeez Kardar asserted that Bhutto was a good enough cricketer to have earned a Blue had he attended Oxford first, and then the University of California at Berkeley, rather than the other way around," the book, published by Simon & Schuster, says.

The book also mentions the cricketing pursuits of current Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who played a first class match though he was out for a duck and also a warm-up match against England before the World Cup in which he scored a single before being bowled by Phil DeFreitas.

Oborne says Bhutto was a decent player and crazy about cricket when he was a youngster and loved to be near cricket stars, such as Mushtaq Ali, who scored India's first Test century overseas, or the precocious Alimuddin, Pakistan's Test opening batsman who appeared for Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy.

He says that according to Kardar, Bhutto's "interest in cricket was that of a scholar. He knew the history of cricket, including such technical developments as the introduction of the third wicket and the sightscreen".
Oborne quotes Bhutto's friend Omar Kureishi, a newspaper columnist, author and radio commentator in describing Bhutto's cricketing prowess, "We had been schoolboys together at the cathedral School in Bombay. We had played cricket, indeed that had been the bond."
Kureishi later travelled to study at the University of California, where he was soon joined by Bhutto. They shared lodgings and played cricket together at Griffith Park for a club called the Corinthians, for whom Bhutto opened the batting.