He would only go on to play three more Tests though, instead building a fine career with Warwickshire. He was one of the first Pakistanis to play county cricket (AH Kardar had played for Warwickshire for three seasons when Pakistan were not a full member and Khan Mohammad played one game for Somerset), after being overlooked for Pakistan selection for the 1954 tour to England. Unhappy, he came to England to forge a career as a professional cricketer and did so successfully, playing for nearly 18 seasons.
That included key roles in two limited-overs cup titles in three years; he took 3-25 and scored 28 in Warwickshire’s four-wicket win in the 1968 final.
After he finished at the county, he became a coach at a school in the UK, a sign of things to come. Soon after he moved to New Zealand to play for Otago (and some games for Tasmania in Australia) as well as do some coaching, He played a key role in the early development of Glenn Turner, one of New Zealand’s greatest batters.
He ended with a prolific first-class career, scoring 17,078 runs at 27.28 and picking up 462 wickets at 30.96. Of his 417 first-class outings, 377 were for Warwickshire, for whom he played for more than a decade.
“He was a special cricketer, one of the greatest, and we had lots of fun times together,” Warwickshire president Dennis Amiss, who played alongside Ibadulla at the club, wrote in a tribute to his former team-mate. “He could be really naughty at times, lots of mickey taking and he gave as good as he got. We loved him at Warwickshire.”
In 64 List A matches, Ibadulla scored 829 runs and took 84 wickets. He also stood as an umpire in 20 first-class matches and 12 List A games. He also ran a private coaching clinic in New Zealand.